shyams

This came up during one of the daylong tournaments of yesterday. I was South, the other three seats were occupied by bots. [hv=pc=n&s=sj2h5d97432ct7654&d=s&v=e&b=3&a=p1sp2c(GF%20with%20!C)p2sd(takeout)3c3d(why%20not%3F%20%3A%5D)3s(rebiddable%20!S%20suit)d(!D%2B!H%20%26%20decent%20!Ss%20)p?]133|200[/hv] The bidding proceeded innocuously for the first couple of rounds. That is until partner doubled and I decided to show my ♦ fit (never mind that it showed 7-10 total points). The bidding now got really weird. What should I do over 3♠x? Surely I can't pass with this sad excuse of a hand. So I bid one more! [hv=pc=n&s=sj2h5d97432ct7654&d=s&v=e&b=3&a=p1sp2c(GF%20with%20!C)p2sd(takeout)3c3d(why%20not%3F%20%3A%5D)3s(rebiddable%20!S%20suit)d(!D%2B!H%20%26%20decent%20!Ss%20)p4d(YOLO%3F)5cp6cp(chicken%3F%3F)pp]133|200[/hv] And there you have it, opps bid a slam and I have to find a lead. If you held the South hand, which suit would you lead? Diamonds, your singleton heart, or a spade? Decide before you unveil the spoiler.

In the event I wasn't very clear in my analogy, .... The club fanbase = The GOP voting bloc (i.e. 45+% of your nation's population) .... The hooligans = The lunatic fringe within the GOP voting bloc (be it MAGA maniacs, QAnons, whatever else) The equivalence of the English soccer club in the NFL context is the Philadelphia Eagles! Most Eagles fans normal people, yet I'm sure there is prevailing reputation in the USA that Eagles fans are hardcore nutcases.

There is a football (soccer to you Americans) chant used by fans of one club in particular --- which goes "No one likes us, we don't care" I am invoking this tangential reference for a reason. While it is true that some fans of this club were very much into violence, they were not representative of the club's fanbase as a whole. However, as the club kept getting called out as the main (sole?) culprit every time the media talked about football hooliganism, it created an unexpected reaction within the fanbase. It established almost a siege mentality amongst ordinary, law-abiding fans; so much so that the chant ("no one likes us") became enshrined in the culture of this club. The incidents of hooliganism reduced sharply within a few years. But even today, 20-30 years later, the club seems unable to rid this tarnished image. In reality, all those years when this club had hooliganism, it was also rife elsewhere in the UK with numerous other clubs having a chunk of hooligan fans. No other club was reviled the way this particular one; others always seemed to get off lighter. The situation is similar to what is happening with the GOP voter base in the US today. No doubt some are horrible people but all Republicans are being tarnished & made to feel like the dregs of society. No wonder the siege mentality within the GOP base is growing. {Many are now convinced that Democrats will not stop until they have converted them into saying " " at the end of each prayer. OK, that's a joke!} Be careful what you wish for.

True :) I posted that when still groggy from having just woken up.

Apologies. I did not add the information about the leads. West led from a solid-ish club suit (and yes the lead confirms East to hold the ♣Q). West might hold something like ♣J109(x)(x) OR ♣J10xxx.

This is Board 6 from the current week's Free Instant tournament. Let us assume that the board came up at IMPs (although the tournament actually was MPs). [hv=pc=n&s=sak95h954daq74cak&n=s642hk6dkt95c8654&d=e&v=e&b=6&a=p2np3nppp]266|200[/hv] The bidding is swift and West makes an insta-lead of the ♣J on which East will play the ♣2 and you win the trick. The best line for 9 tricks?

Thank you. I wasn't aware of Nick or his record until now. I just read one of his articles --- probably due to its catchy title. "Coronavirus: Does the UK have the pandemic under control?". The entire write-up is full of meaningless words. I thought the author made no effort to actually answer his own question. He instead quoted some random stats to show his erudition or his ability to research or both. I will henceforth track his new posts --- to see what new pearls of wisdom he bestows upon us BBC readers.

I did not even consider extrapolating the trend observed in the first 8-12 weeks of 2020. If things had gone according to trend, the number this year should have been some 10k below the previous 5-year average. After all, the flu season of Jan-Feb was probably less lethal this year (random occurrence, but nevertheless). So perhaps the UK Govt, BoJo, his greatest Health Secy ever Matt Hancock and the administration helped contribute to a provisional excess death number of 120k-130k in the period Apr-Dec. Reduce it by Cyberyeti's anecdotal evidentiary number of 6k (100% increase) and you now have 114k-124k excess deaths; a 33% rise compared to the 5-year average.

So allow me to revisit the topic of UK's mishandling of Covid. The BBC today published an article on "Excess deaths in 2020" (link here). In it, the headline message is that UK saw 91,000 excess deaths which is 15% higher than the past 5 year average. The article then goes on to ameliorate the disaster by including some fluff about "when the age and size of the population is taken into account, 2020 saw the worst death rates since the 2000s". In other words, giving some credit to the Govt. by pretending it's not an absolute disaster. Unfortunately, this is a superficially researched piece with very little effort gone into analysis of the underlying data. If one looks at the data even for 5-10 minutes (which the BBC should have), it is obvious that the death rates in the first 8-12 weeks of 2020 were running below normal (about 3K fewer deaths in Jan-Mar than the 5-yr average). So the entire spike in deaths (of 91K extra) occurred in the later 36 weeks --- they haven't even included December yet. To summarise, the actual excess deaths (during the real Covid period) are approx. 25% higher, not the 15% touted by the BBC. And unlike the USA, where deaths from overdoses and suicides have allegedly spiked, there are no known reports of other factors (like overdoses) that have materially impacted death rates. In other words, it is highly likely that Covid alone contributed to the 25% rise in death rate! I never understood why the British media is not more harsh on the Govt's mishandling.

I thought I will post some data I recently found about Covid in my London borough. * Slightly over 5% of the borough population was recorded to have contracted Covid so far (i.e. Mar '20 thru Jan '21) Note this only includes population who was tested or formally assessed to have been Covid positive. People who contracted it in early 2020 (i.e. before widespread testing) and recovered without going to a doctor OR people who contracted it without manifesting any symptoms are not counted in the official figures. * The current wave is so bad that approx. 2% of the borough population is currently registered as active Covid cases (i.e. 40% of all cases in the borough are recent). The official numbers are as of early Jan (i.e. about a week worth of data is yet to come). * Further, it is estimated that an additional 0.7% of the borough contracted Covid in the past week. This is getting frighteningly out-of-control.

[hv=pc=n&s=st5hj64dkj97c9875&n=sa2hda8643cakq432&d=w&v=0&b=8&a=p1c1hp1s2d2hp3h4cppp]266|200[/hv] Hi & welcome. When you create a post, you will find an icon with a ♠ symbol which can be used to create the hand diagram. This makes the presentation more readable and easier to analyse. In your example, I think North did very little wrong. On the other hand, it seems South was asleep and randomly clicking the pass button. * North's multiple rounds of bidding clearly shows a strong hand and a potential 2-suiter. * Additionally, opponents' bidding helps South place North with very few heart cards. * South has a very good fit in both the suits bid by partner. I don't understand why South would not raise to game.

There is one possible improvement I might suggest to this line, which otherwise looks very good to me. It arises from your point #4. If the ♠9 drops in 2 rounds, the play of ♠T as you suggested is a lock. However, if the ♠9 did not drop on the second spade, isn't it better to switch to diamonds, in the hope of a 3-3 split there? If the diamonds don't split, it is quite possible that the long diamond hand had a doubleton spade. Not sure how good this suggestion is but I feel the odds improve a bit (including improved odds on weird squeezes materialising later in the play.

FYP. Didn't you once say something to the effect that communication is your forte?

When I saw the Trump video, I got a strong feeling that the final product was made from multiple takes by Trump. I noticed that the camera angle shifted abruptly and jarringly some 80 seconds into the clip. I wouldn't be surprised if some ramblings were deleted and/or Trump was asked to re-record a portion or some portions of the speech.

My suggestion for inaction (re. an early exit): I find the whole clamour to get him impeached or (weirder still) removed by invoking the 25th Amendment a huge waste of time. He is gone in 10 days; the best one can do is to barely care when he leaves. It must be clear by now that he needs attention as much as you & I need oxygen. It matters not one bit whether the attention is for things he perceives as "positive" or truly negative stuff; what matters is that the glare of public attention is on him. The sane course of action is to do the opposite of what feeds him; his Twitter ban is probably driving him completely bonkers. Use the same formula in the real world. Instead of impeachment proceedings (a self-congratulatory effort by Dem leadership; also aimed at showing themselves as the "custodians of the moral high ground"), they should perhaps describe the entire debacle as a fiasco (yes, it is a lie but a useful one). Pelosi (or someone less diplomatic) goes on TV to say that the man was "stupid enough not to realise that his words will incite such a profound reaction. Such stupidity is rather expected from a person who is rapidly losing his grip on all matters under his control" He's stuck -- he can't say that he's not stupid (because then by inference, he has agreed to incitement) and he can't sit there silently with the "stupid" label stuck firmly on him. Just an opinion! But honestly folks, the impeachment gains nothing --- it will only continue to drive a wedge between the two tribes.

OK, my last cynical comment for the day (promise) I am waiting for Trump to tweet something along the lines that "since the Senate + House did not complete the certification on the day mandated as per the US Constitution, they have failed to approve phony Joe Biden. This means I will remain in office until the next Presidential election in 2024" :lol: :rolleyes:

Is there an option to edit the title of this thread? I feel the time has arrived for one specific word to be excised and replaced by a "new reality" alternative that reflect whatever is prevailing (politically) in the USA.

It was the trending article on BBC website yesterday --- https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55530721

As an aside, the Georgia outcome has resulted in the average wealth in the Senate getting eroded by almost $8 million per Senator. Shouldn't it be reason for the Senate to carve out a financial relief bill for themselves? :lol: :rolleyes:

Agree! The GOP Senators remind me of the Keyzer Soze scene ( ). Quote "They realised that to be in power, they didn't need guns or money, or even numbers. They just needed the will to do what the other guy wouldn't". Perhaps a fitting quote for these Senators.

If the Americans thought the Senate & House of Representatives were dysfunctional in the past few years, do wait and see how it will look in the next 4 years. * The (potential) 50-50 tie in Senate means the GOP will find numerous ways to slow everything down. VP Harris will need to appear in the Senate many more times than in any recent history to cast the tie-breaker vote. * The "progressive" wing of the Democrats will now have the power to obstruct; they probably are too incompetent to use such power. If anything, they will manage to scuttle a few of the initiatives of the Biden administration. * Pelosi's lead has whittled down to a bare sliver. She will forever be beholden to AOC and the likes. Worse still, Pelosi thinks she has the right to "know" the correct course and she will try all sorts of shenanigans to have her way in the House. Fun all around. But then I suppose the situation is still much better than having Mitch McConnell running the show in the Senate.

Tanya Roberts I still remember her brilliantly funny lines in "That '70s Show".

I really hope such a day never comes. The USA may, at this time, appear very divided but it won't take much to heal these superficial wounds. The one thing that will completely destroy the USA (and lead to the destruction of the "Western World" alliance) is any form of splintering of the UNITED States of America.

A lot of truly weird things happened in the NFL Week 17 matches yesterday. Capped off by a truly shocking decision by the Eagles to engineer a loss for reasons that are difficult to comprehend. Guess thats my reward for staying awake till almost 4 am (here) merely to watch what I thought would be a crucial game with lots on stake.

At the table, I did this. * Unfortunately West won the ♦J with the ♦K with the ♦10 still out. * Fortunately diamonds broke 3-3 so 12 tricks were easy. My plan was to either find East with ♦10x or for East to have ♦Kx / Kxx / Kxxx (the last covers the situation of West being dealt ♦10x). If it doesn't work, then I hoped to find diamonds splitting 3-3. If nothing works so far, then I can fall back on a finesse in hearts (in some situations, it becomes a show-up squeeze).