The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Goin' Torino

Jonathan Ferguson — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 18:05:00 GMT

Well, can't let the Olympics pass by without a brief comment.

I'm not a particularly patriotic Canadian. I think we should have done much better in the 65 years since WWII ended considering our vast natural resources, our paltry national defense budget, our trade relationship with the United States and our lack of the racial strife/problems that plague our neighbor to the south. I was appalled by the massive deficits we ran up in the '80's (my formative years, politically) and by our (relatively) high unemployment rates. I didn't (and still don't) think much of our unelected senate, our 'notwithstanding clause' in the charter of rights and freedoms, having a foreign 'queen' as head of state (figurehead or not) and the inclusion of a fictitious 'god' in our national anthem (not that I think much of national anthems in the first place.)

Still, I've been extremely delighted by the performance of Canadians in the Vancouver games. I am frankly disgusted by those who characterize the 'Own the Podium' campaign as anything but an unqualified triumph. Canada has won more gold medals than ANY OTHER COUNTRY (a stunning achievement in its own right, but even moreso when you consider that Canada didn't win a single gold medal the last two times we hosted the Olympics.) Aside from the women's curling team, I haven't seen a single Canadian falter or choke. Weather and mechanical failures aside, the Vancouver games have been awesome, and actually gave this cynical ex-pat reason to feel proud of his native land.

Fire Craig James

Jonathan Ferguson — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 20:36:00 GMT

I was disgusted to learn that Texas Tech's brilliant and innovative football coach, Mike Leach, was fired for trying to instill some discipline and work ethic in Adam James, the spoiled brat son of ESPN commentator Craig James.

ESPN needs to fire Craig James and Texas Tech need to fire the boneheads who made this indefensible decision.

I hope the Texas Tech players have enough integrity and loyalty to sit out the Alamo Bowl. I know I would.

Late edit:

Looks like the story might have a happy ending if Mike Leach gets hired to replace Lane Kiffin at Tennessee. One of my favorite coaches coaching my co-favorite college team would be awesome.

Christmas Party

Jonathan Ferguson — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 04:45:00 GMT

The Austin Unit hosted their Christmas party this year with the unit picking up the tab. I thought that was a nice idea, and wasn't about to turn down a free session or two and some decent grub. My friend Joanie and I had a fairly decent game in the afternoon, scooping 2nd in our section but we faded in the evening.

Here are my favorite and least favorite hands of the afternoon:

Favorable, 2nd seat, pass to you:

JT43 / A4 / Q9 / AKQJ9

I was tempted to not upgrade this hand (the 5-card suit is nice, but the CJ might be superfluous and the Q9 of D isn't too pretty) but the nice spots to go with the 5-bagger kept me from opening 1N. I opened 1C.

LHO overcalled 1H and partner passed. Mildred Breed bid 2H on my right and I decided to double (2S is probably better but my Spades aren't really Moyse-worthy.) Joanie, of course, bid 3D and it was up to me.

Bidding 3N here is pretty gross. Pard could be broke and you can't even duck H twice. But I just couldn't bear to let partner flounder in a 4-2 or 5-2 D fit. We're at the 3 level already, might as well be in game. I bid 3N.

Mildred kinda shrugged and passed. LHO led the H3. I bought pretty well, considering:

92 / JT8 / KJ743 / T86

JT43 / A4 / Q9 / AKQJ9

Looks like down 1, but just maybe the opponents will give me a 2nd H trick when they get in with their DA instead of testing S.

I played the HJ and it held! I was soon claiming 9 tricks. (Mildred had A765 / Q76 / T82 / 743.) +400 was worth a somewhat surprising 100% of the matchpoints (11 on an 11 top.)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Favorable, 1st seat:

AKQT853 / T95 / 73 / T

I guess 1S is possible, especially with the H length, but I made the practical bid of 4S. Float.

2 of Clubs was led:

92 / QJ / KJ852 / AKJ5

AKQT853 / T95 / 73 / T

Do you or don't you?

This is probably a state-of-the-match decision more than anything. If you're having a good game, or feel you're the best pair in the field, maybe you don't hook. If you play the CJ and the Clubs cash (and it appear they will, assuming 4th best leads,) you'll get a screaming top for +450. Of course if you play the J and it loses ...

... they call you Mr. Ferguson.

Looking at the hand later, Joanie noted that Deep Finesse says I could have made this hand. No, really? I hadn't noticed that. I wonder how.

LHO held J7 / A863 / QT4 / 8632

About a boy

Jonathan Ferguson — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 00:52:00 GMT

Been playing a fair bit lately so I'll have a hand or two soon. This is more of a stream of consciousness post.

John Edwards. I supported him. He's a weasel. Even I don't bat 1000. Sorry. (That campaign never took off. Wondered why. I think now we know why.)

Inspector Gadget died. Sorry to hear the news. When posting on someone's eulogy message board, spell his name right.

Obama. I thought it was funny that for the first 6 months of his presidency everyone called him 'Obama' and now everyone calls him 'the President.' I agree that 'President Obama' doesn't exactly roll of the tongue but ...'

Snakebite. My medical bills came to about $57,000 for a non-overnight, non-emergency, 16-hour stay in the emergency room.

Go Ducks. Oregon's playing in the Rose Bowl. Don't punch opposing players in the face. I went to UO my junior year. Eugene is cool. Grateful Dead. ROTC. Animal House.

Hook 'em. Texas plays for a spot in the National Championship game tonight against Nebraska.

Gate-crashers. Here in 'murrica we don't prosecute war criminals, but we do prosecute uninvited guests.

Health care reform. Actually no, just health insurance reform. Doctors who charge $57,000 for 16 hours of non-emergency emergency room care will be able to continue to do so.

May the 4's be with you

Jonathan Ferguson — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 04:21:00 GMT

Had a lucky half-set with Jim today (Thursday.) I was hoping for a decent set as the first of my medical bills (more on that in another post) and the tragedy at Fort Hood had me somewhat out of sorts.

First board, first seat:

7 / K2 / K87652 / KJ85

If you open this cheesebox, you get to 3N:

1D - 1S
2C - 2H(4SF)
2N? - 3N

Do you want to be there?

AQJ42 / QJ85 / QT4 / 9

7 / K2 / K87652 / KJ85

You're hoping for 5D, 2H, 1S and 1 more black-suit trick.

I got a heart lead (4) and was faced with my first decision, stick in the 8 or play low?

If you play low, you're hoping that righty will play the 9 or 10 and you can win and hook lefty for the other heart spot, setting up a 3rd heart trick.

If you stick in the 8, you're hoping that lefty underled the T9 of hearts.

I played low and righty stuck in the 7. Doh.

I won the K and led the D8 to the 9, Q, and Ace.

A low club (another 4) came back, now what?

AQJ42/ QJ8 / T4 / 9

7 / 2 / K7652 / KJ85

These are the decisions I hate (and they seem to come disproportionately on the first board.) If I guess wrong here, a spade return probably beats me (even if the spade finesse works my communication is shot and I can be locked in my hand at the end.) On the bright side there's a good chance that lefty will return a club and then I'm still in business as long as diamonds come home.

I played a low club and lefty won the Q (cool) and didn't find the best defense of a spade return, returning a club to righty's ace and giving me 9 tricks when I navigated the diamond suit successfully.

http://www.bridgebase.com/myhands/fetchlin.php?id=2022526&when_played=1257067933

Bidding 3N was worth 7 IMPs.

Humpty Dumpty

Jonathan Ferguson — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 03:07:00 GMT

Recovery has been exasperatingly slow, but steady. That little guy (I did manage to catch him and release him when his fangs got caught on the dishtowel I used to protect my hand after he bit me the first time) packed quite a punch. He turned the whole underside of my right arm from my armpit to about 3 inches shy of my wrist a solid dark purple. (I took a picture or two on my digital camera and will post them (over the fold, they're not for the squeamish) when I can track down the adaptor.)

Anyway, finally there was some pretty substantial improvement today. The bruising is fading/blotching and the swelling has finally all-but-disappeared everywhere but the bite-finger itself.

What did I learn? Baby rattlesnake venom is more toxic than the adult venom. And babies haven't yet learned to control how much venom they deliver so you're likely to get almost all of it. Even a 2 or 2.5 ' snake that's 1/2 or 3/4" thick (the distance between fangs was 1.2 cm or just under 1/2") can ruin your whole day.

The advice I got from poison control was awful. A 'dry bite' doesn't require medical attention necessarily, but a 'dry bite' won't swell up your whole hand. Yes, I was predisposed to weather the storm, but that would have, at a minimum, cost me my finger and likely my arm. Once they heard 'baby rattlesnake' and 'entire hand swollen', they should have known what to recommend and how strongly to recommend it. Maybe they get a bunch of hypochondriac callers or something, I dunno.

The health care system is disfunctional. In a perfect world, I call the low-cost clinic run by a nurse practitioner, I select the 'hands on' option (that allows me, within reason, to direct my own treatment, with the advice, but not control, of medical professionals) and get 4 doses of anti-venom. I pay the cost of treatment (maybe $200 + wholesale cost of prescription,) get treated, go home.

Instead, I get thrown into the model of waste, delay, inefficiency, bureaucracy, and misplaced incentives that is the modern American hospital. If you're wondering why the U.S. spends so much on health care and gets so little for it, my experience might be instructive.

Doctor Ego

Jonathan Ferguson — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 03:09:00 GMT

What a crazy 48 hours.

So I called poison control about 2 hours after being bitten (twice) with my hand swollen up. I gave them some indication that I'd rather not rack up an emergency room bill if I could avoid it. I told them my hand was completely swollen and sore but if that was as bad as it was going to get that I was content to ride it out. I was asked about other symptoms (I had none) and was told that if the swelling hadn't progressed beyond the wrist that it was up to me whether or not to go in to the ER.

Long story short, by the next morning (16 hours after the bite) my forearm had swelled, my upper arm was beginning to swell, and some of my veins were bright red and I had some bruising. I called poison control back and they suggested I immediately get to an ER. They said they'd let the ER know I was coming (the anti-venom takes some time to mix.)

Brackenridge is a teaching hospital in downtown Austin. They admitted me as soon as I arrived, remarking on my calmness. I was impressed. Everybody was friendly. I was kind of the daily celebrity for a while, as snake-bites are relatively uncommon, particularly ones that had progressed for that long.

It was 2 and a half hours before I finally had anti-venom flowing into my veins. I was pretty appalled at the delay, but I wasn't about to piss off the people assigned to bring me back to health.

After 2 more doses of anti-venom my platelets and clotting factor (2 things attacked by the venom) were back to normal. In fact all my bloodwork was either normal or almost normal. The swelling had stopped progressing and had come down a nominal amount in certain areas. Unfortunately, my index finger had gradually deteriorated throughout the day. I had noticed small dark red blisters forming that morning, and those blisters had grown larger and darker throughout the day. Now they were black and covered an alarming area.

I wanted those poison swamps drained (since it was obvious that the blisters had a high concentration of venom in them and that since blisters have poor circulation the anti- venom just wasn't able to do the marvelous job it had done in the rest of my arm.)

I suggested the idea to every nurse, student and doctor who came to check on me, but the presiding physician, Dr. Ego, had other plans. He wanted to just keep giving me anti-venom every 3 hours and hope that EVENTUALLY the venom in the blisters would be neutralized. He was going to admit me into some intermediate care facility for at least 24 hours where my poison swamps would be allowed to fester and grow. I considered his plan insane. He said it was my own fault for waiting so long and that my platelets weren't high enough to risk opening up the blisters (which had by now morphed into one giant black blob of death, slowly growing while it turned the surrounding tissue black.) Of course, my platelets were fine, but I knew that Dr. Ego would never be swayed by logic.

I stayed for one more anti-venom treatment (for the road, as it was already being mixed when I learned of Dr. Ego's crazy scheme.) I informed the nurse that I'd be checking out after the current IV treatment of Crofab. I got all kinds of hysterical warnings that I would die or lose my arm, which did nothing but harden my resolve (while unfortunately scaring the bejeesus out of my friend Joanie, who had stayed by my side throughout.)

I got home (it was after midnight,) speared the blister, and drained about 70% of the swamp. I went to sleep and this morning, my finger's color had improved dramatically. The swelling of my arm hadn't changed much but has slowly subsided throughout the day. I drained 99% of the swamp this morning and have been periodically draining it (mainly to prevent infection) throughout the day. I'm on the mend.

Snakebit

Jonathan Ferguson — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 05:43:00 GMT

Playing bridge again and had an unlucky set? Uh, nope.

Snakebit.

Literally.

I guess I've now crossed off everything on my Austin to-do list. The cute little baby rattler on my doorstep took care of that. I thought that baby snakes had weak poison and that snakes saved most of their venom for prey animals. I guess this little guy didn't get the memo.

10 hours later and my right hand (typing this left-handed) looks and feels like it got slammed in a car door (well with the addition of 2 pinprick puncture marks.)

Gonna be a long night ...

Bush III

Jonathan Ferguson — Tue, 12 May 2009 17:45:00 GMT

100+ days in and the Obama administration seems more than anything like a continuation of the Bush administration. The primary difference between the 2 men seems to be that George Bush believed in something (slashing taxes for the rich, enriching his buddies with no-bid contracts, stealing elections, an imperial presidency) and was willing to fight for it, whereas Barack Obama may or may not have any principles, but is most interested in being liked.

American personnel tortured hundreds of detainees in the last 7 years. Dozens of those detainees were tortured to death. Barack Obama is fine with that. He wants to cover it up. He wants it to go away. That puts him in violation of the Geneva Convention, Article 121:

'Article 121

Every death or serious injury of a prisoner of war caused or suspected to have been caused by a sentry, another prisoner of war, or any other person, as well as any death the cause of which is unknown, shall be immediately followed by an official enquiry by the Detaining Power.

A communication on this subject shall be sent immediately to the Protecting Power. Statements shall be taken from witnesses, especially from those who are prisoners of war, and a report including such statements shall be forwarded to the Protecting Power.

If the enquiry indicates the guilt of one or more persons, the Detaining Power shall take all measures for the prosecution of the person or persons responsible.'

That makes him a war criminal.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Boy, I'm getting sick of living in Bananastan. Glad one of my boyhood heroes, Jesse 'The Body' Ventura, agrees.

A Sandbox with Land Mines

Jonathan Ferguson — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 19:10:00 GMT

EVE-Online, the massively multiplayer online game I've been playing, has been called a sandbox with land mines. Unlike most other MMOG's, which are more like a theme-park (the gameplay is set up a certain way and everyone follows the same path,) EVE lets you make your own fun. Everyone's a spaceship pilot, but there are almost as many ways to play as there are players. If you want to fight against computer opponents ('rats') you can do that. If you want to blow up (and be blown up by) other players, you can do that, either as a soldier in a large corporation, in a small gang, or as a solo 'pirate'. If you want to make a fortune trading commodities (weapons, ships, implants, rigs, etc.) without ever leaving a station, you can do that. If you want to fly massive titans 10 miles long and lead armies to conquer vast swaths of space, you can do that (if you have the time, people skills, and leadership skills, of course.) If you want to manufacture the stuff that traders trade, you can do that. If you want to try to scam noob players out of their money by offering to sell something worth 1 million ISK (the in-game currency) for $999,999,999 you can do that. If you want to play for free by paying for your game-time with in-game currency, you can do that. If you want to mine the minerals that go into the manufacture of the things that manufacturers manufacture and traders trade, you can do that. If you want to make money by hauling cargo from remote stations to trading hubs in massive haulers, you can do that. If you want to do a little bit of everything, you can do that. But anytime you undock from a station, or fly from point to point, you run the risk of being obliterated by another player (though the risk is much lower in 'hi-security' areas of space.) That's where the land mines come in.

Which brings me to today's blog about yesterday's set. It was a sandbox with land mines too.

Jeff invited me to play a few against random opps. I served and declined a few 'private' folks and then lo and behold Wayne rang in. Moments later Jeff asked me to hold the last spot and Sondra arrived. Cool beans, should be fun.

The fireworks started immediately.

Q74 / AT95 / AJT9 / 42

Jeff opened 1S in 1st. Great hand, gorgeous spots, prime values outside of the expected trump suit, soft values in trumps, which is ideal. But with the modern standards for opening continuing to diminish, not worth a game force imo. I trotted out a forcing 1NT, planning to rebid 3S.

Jeff rebid 2C. I showed my hand with 3S. Jeff now bid 4D. What's that mean and how should I continue?

I wasn't sure if Jeff meant it as a fragment (5-1-3-4 or similar slam try) or was showing a diamond void or something else, but I thought that fragment was most likely, it being rather common to bid out 5-4-3-1 hands like that.

I cooperated with 4H and Jeff bid keycard and 6S.

Sondra led the S9.

Q74 / AT95 / AJT9 / 42

AK8653 / K83 / 5 / KQ5

I think Jeff got a little carried away here. If you're going to overbid though, you've got to be willing to overplay. And he certainly did that on this hand.

What's your best chance? Sure, you can pray for QJ tight in H or a stiff honor and your guessing shoes on. Jeff gave himself a better chance.

He won the spade in hand and crossed to the DA and ruffed a diamond, everyone following. Now what?

Q7 / AT95 / JT / 42

K865 / K83 / - / KQ5

He ignored the illusion in clubs, the Ace onside does you no good, and played a top club (anything else and you're down.)

As it turns out the CA WAS onside. Wayne won and returned his last spade.

Jeff cashed his other top club and ruffed a club with dummy's last trump.

- / AT95 / JT / -

K86 / K83 / - / -

Now a diamond ruff, dropping Sondra's Q from an original Qxx and 2 more rounds of Spades squeezed Wayne, who started with Kxxxx of diamonds and QJx of hearts, in the reds.

'I might have to blog that.'

http://www.bridgebase.com/myhands/fetchlin.php?id=38948788&when_played=1231101012

to be continued ...

Tortured Logic

Jonathan Ferguson — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 15:30:00 GMT

At long last, there is SOME talk of prosecuting the US government officials who committed the war crime of authorizing torture. They broke American law, they broke international law, they are war criminals and should be treated accordingly. While their reckless criminal behavior is appalling and violates everything that America stands for, the silence of the mainstream media throughout the debacle is almost equally appalling and the talking heads who remained silent should be off the air.

In the interest of compromise, I'd offer Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Powell, Rice, et al this plea deal: Since you contend that waterboarding, stress positions, prolonged sleep deprivation, etc. aren't torture, sign here and we'll fly you to Guantanamo and subject you to these methods for 6 months. At the end of 6 months we'll release you and drop all charges.

A critical mass of Americans lost their minds on 9/11/2001. Eight years later, here's hoping that a critical mass of Americans have regained their sanity.

Here are the common pro-torture arguments:

It saved American lives. What if there's a ticking time bomb? Jack Bauer proves that it works. We did it to our own people, so it's not torture. If the President does it, it's not illegal. Treaties don't matter.

Here's the truth:

It cost American lives. It has acted as a huge recruiting tool for al Qaida.

Ticking time bomb scenarios don't happen in real life. Life isn't a TV show. No credible attack was thwarted by these methods. There was no ticking time bomb.

Even if it worked, it would be wrong. The end does not justify the means. But it doesn't work. If you torture someone, he will tell you what he thinks you want to hear to make it stop. He will make stuff up.

We've waterboarded our own people SO THAT THEY CAN WITHSTAND TORTURE. Is waterboarding someone once for 5 seconds torture? No. Is waterboarding someone daily hundreds of times torture? Duh. This bait and switch argument is like someone who deliberately injected people with HIV saying that it was just like the immunization shots we administer hundreds of thousands of times a day.

Nobody's above the law. That's why the Constitution has an impeachment clause:

"The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors."

Treaties are the supreme law of the United States:

"This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding."

What makes America great is not our military might, nor our economic power, nor our geographical position on the globe. It is our principles, our freedom, our equality of opportunity, our commitment to individual rights. Torture, kidnapping, and indefinite detainment without trial are anathema to all of these principles. The only way the terrorists win is if they get us to forget who we are and what we stand for.

Why, even Newt Gingrich is on board. (God, it makes me sad to remember the Republicans when they used to have most of my support.)

Billy Bob

Jonathan Ferguson — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 16:08:00 GMT

Canada's up in arms about Billy Bob Thornton. He and his band, the Boxmasters, were interviewed on QTV and he got peeved at the interviewer who failed to honor the pre-interview agreement that his film career not be mentioned.

The principle of journalistic freedom/integrity is being raised by his naysayers, but I don't share their view. Politicians shouldn't be able to vet questions ahead of time, but anyone else absolutely should. If he doesn't want to talk about his personal life or his past then QTV can either agree to that or decide not to interview him.

No Academy Award

Jonathan Ferguson — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 23:46:00 GMT

Saw Slumdog Millionaire a couple of days ago. Not impressed. Decent performances, kinda dumb story. What's the moral? Keep chasing after the girl and she'll keep telling you to piss off until you're wealthy? Nice ...

I went to the Houston NABC for the last weekend. I didn't do much, had a couple of huge hands (a 5-3-3-2 28 count and a hand I bid 2C P 2D P 7S) and fizzled in the only national event I played, the Swiss (the only skin on our wall was newly inducted Hall of Famer Mark Lair's.) It was nice to see George Jacobs win the Vanderbilt.

Jeff and Paul and Izzy and her new partner, Sondra Blank, triumphed on BBO against Cayne a couple of days ago. I missed the dramatic comeback as it conflicted with '24', but a good showing nevertheless.

America is so messed up (thanks Dubya.) The only Republicans left virtually all come from conservative districts and are consequently more worried about their primary opponents than their general election opponents. So they swing rabidly to the right. They're irrelevant. We need at least 2 grown-up parties for this deal to work. Maybe it's time for a 2nd party in America.

Here's more of the platform I'd like to see from the party I'd vote for:

We don't subscribe to various Bronze Age religions. If you want to believe superstitious nonsense, please keep it to yourself. America is not a Christian nation. None of the founding fathers were Christian. (For instance, Thomas Jefferson wrote his own version of the New Testament omitting all references to the divinity of Jesus and Benjamin Franklin was an atheist. I really like this link: http://www.wonderfulatheistsofcfl.org/Quotes.htm)

We believe in balanced budgets but also recognize the validity of Keynesian economics. No budget should project deficits as far as the eye can see. If we had negative economic growth last year, we can run a deficit up to 10% of (projected) tax revenues collected, but if we didn't, we can't run a deficit at all.

We believe in freedom and liberty. Victimless crimes will not be prosecuted. More power will be delegated to the states, as intended by our founding fathers. If you don't like life in Alabama, move to California or New York or Oregon. I wonder just how great the United States would be if we had just let those backwards Confederates secede and be done with them.

I thought this video was pretty funny. I hope Mary hasn't been watching too much of Glenn Beck.

The 10.31 Project

colbertnation.com

Colbert Report Full Episodes

Political Humor

NASA Name Contest

and on a lighter (or perhaps, less controversial) note:

War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength, Trillion Dollar Deficits are Responsibility

Jonathan Ferguson — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 17:06:00 GMT

I've been following the discussion around Obama's budget, a document entitled A New Era of Responsibility ... Renewing America's Promise. I'm appalled at the recklessness of the thing. Obama seems to be banking on the Big Lie theory, that people will believe a big lie sooner than a little one. His projections of massive and unprecedented deficits as far as the eye can see are utter madness.

We already know what works. We have Clinton's presidency to show us the way. The wealthy need to pay their fair share. The government needs to look for ways to economize. Obama had an unprecedented opportunity to show political courage, ask for shared sacrifice, and really revolutionize America. Instead he's ensuring America's decline under an ocean of debt.

Unfortunately, there is no coherent and principled opposition to the thing. Republicans' hypocrisy and decline into fascism over the last 8 years has left them, as I saw someone describe it on Meet the Press this morning, like a bunch of eunuchs at the Playboy mansion, analyzing and observing the events around them, while unable to participate.

If I were the declarer in chief, here's how I'd play Obama's hand:

Roll back the Bush tax cuts on the wealthy yesterday. Especially the inheritance tax.

I hear the opposition: 'You don't raise taxes in a recession.' Yeah, well you don't lower taxes when you're at war, either, but somehow that argument fell on deaf ears over the last 7 years. Allowing billionaires who die in 2010 to pass on their entire vast fortunes tax-free is insane and irresponsible in a time of financial crisis. Give them a generous 10 or even 20 million dollar exemption and then tax the rest at a healthy 40 or 50%. Raise the top marginal rate back to 39.6%. Even at that level it's somewhat on the low side, but at least it gets you back into the right ballpark.

Stop letting insolvent banks hold our economy hostage and bleed our economy dry.

I was watching Bill Moyers last night and finally heard from someone who made some sense on the banking crisis. Regulators need to assess the solvency of each bank. Obama should insist that the directors/management of all insolvent banks tender their resignations (not that he will necessarily accept them all.) Stockholders in insolvent banks must not be bailed out. Their shares are worthless because the underlying entity is insolvent. The government should take over each bank as it defaults on its obligations, if it can't be arranged to do so sooner. The government should recapitalize the banks and then resell them back to the market.

Freeze military spending.

There's probably more waste, fraud and abuse in the department of defense budget than in all other departments put together. Smart people should be able to figure out how to keep America safe with a budget that's only 5 times as much as the world's next most expensive military budget. I'm all for paying soldiers more. But corrupt folks like Blackwater and Halliburton need to be investigated for fraud and the era of no-bid contracts needs to come to an end. Obsolete military programs need to be shelved. Obsolete military bases need to be closed. Unnecessary wars and foreign occupations need to responsibly and swiftly end.

Don't increase education spending, spend education money more wisely.

Do you want the world's most brilliant citizenry? Here's my plan: Make broadband Internet available to every American. You can profitably mass-produce a cheap net-ready workstation for under $200 each. If you gave one to EVERY American, that'd be a paltry $60 billion. Focus on young people of lower socioeconomic means and I'm sure you could provide near-universal access for one tenth that amount. Make online videos/classes and testing on virtually every academic subject under the sun available for low cost to all and for free to those of limited means. I don't understand why you can't have the best teachers in America make videos of their classes, make them available to America's families, and get Americans thinking again. I'd love a Harvard education, whether I have some piece of paper on my wall that cost me $200,000 or not. It really isn't that complicated.

Gut the budget for the Department of Homeland Security.

It's up to the CIA and the DoD to prevent a terrorist from smuggling a dirty bomb into this country or from using cyber-terrorism to cripple this country's technological infrastructure and bring it to its knees (a more likely and dangerous threat, imo.) If you want to see colored lights and whatnot, go to your nearest intersection. As for natural disasters, people need to relearn the lesson that decisions have consequences. That if you build a city below sea level you're periodically going to get wet and that if you live in an area prone to hurricanes, it's up to you to either build structures capable of withstanding them or footing the cost of rebuilding. They also need to learn the lesson that living in fear of terrorism or getting hit by lightning or by a plane that falls from the sky and hits your house just isn't rational and there needs to be a sane balance between expenses incurred and lives saved.

Raise the age at which you qualify for social security benefits.

Social security is a Ponzi scheme. Always has been. A racist and sexist one at that (discriminating against blacks and males, who tend to die significantly younger than their non-black/female counterparts.) But at least when it was created, the life expectancy tables meant that it wouldn't be an excessively onerous financial burden (the average life expectancy in 1930 was 58 for men and 62 for women.) http://www.ssa.gov/history/lifeexpect.html That's no longer true. Fix it.

Health care.

Give the AMA and the insurance industry a chance to propose a plan that will insure all Americans without raising our current health care spending a dime. If they fail/refuse, go to a single-payer model like the rest of the civilized world has done long ago. We pay massively more per capita than any other country and yet tens of millions are uninsured. The market model has failed in health care. It's time to accept that and move to something that works. More money (as Obama has proposed) is not the answer. We spend too much already.

Tax carbon.

It was the right idea when I first heard of it in 1992. It's the right idea today. Nobody has the right to pollute my environment without paying me for the damage they have caused. As the old native American saying goes, 'We don't inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.' Americans need to be given a reality check when it comes to the true cost of energy. That will spur conservation and increased investment in renewables.

End the 'War on Drugs'

The widespread incarceration of non-violent offenders is one of the great human rights travesties of all time. I'd put it on par with slavery in terms of its destructiveness to our society and our moral fabric. People have the inalienable right to dominion over their own physical person. That includes ingesting substances that others deem harmful.

Stop subsidizing breeding

As the world population approaches 7 billion people, I don't think the problem is that there's not enough folks.

President Obama

Jonathan Ferguson — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 02:56:00 GMT

Happy New Year.

I'm sad to report that the blog will remain largely dormant for the next few months. My interest in bridge has waned as it does from time to time, but I'm sure I'll be back in force not too long from now. I've had to disable my open comment policy, as the spammers have cluttered up the blog almost beyond recognition. Needless to say, all non-spam posts will be authorized, regardless of content.

As for politics, I've remained largely silent since Obama secured the Democratic nomination. I thought he was a charismatic and gifted public speaker who lacked the experience to be president. So far he hasn't changed my mind much. What America needs is a purging, a cleansing, an exorcism from the past 8 years, not Mr. Rogers introducing us to his neighbors. Prosecute George Bush for war crimes. Prosecute Dick Cheney for war crimes. Prosecute Don Rumsfeld for war crimes. Roll back the tax cuts on the wealthy. Cut off the financial services bailout immediately. Put money in working families pockets. If they need credit, set up a federal agency to provide them with that credit. Those are the steps that need to be taken. None of those steps are being taken. Obama hasn't impressed. But we're stuck with him and we need to nudge him in the right direction. I didn't understand the financial services bailout and I'm a pretty bright guy. Turns out it was a bad idea. Go figure. As for the 'stimulus package', I think that any spending beyond the next 18 months needs to be passed in a separate bill. We need a shot in the arm now, not 3 years from now. It needs to go to working families who earn less than 100k per year. It'll get spent that way.

I'm watching a PBS show on President Lincoln. Most overrated president ever as far as I'm concerned. What a disgusting excuse for a human being this guy was. Racist, power-hungry, incompetent war-time leader, less than completely sane. I don't know why so many people buy the 'greatest president ever' company line. It just isn't true.

I've been playing EVE-Online a lot lately. If you want to join me, I can give you a 3-week free trial. Just holler.

Who Likes Ben Stein?

Jonathan Ferguson — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 04:13:00 GMT

Not me ...

Mikey forwarded this email to me. It kind of surprised me. I was going to go on about how much I disagree with it (I'd be seriously offended by it if anything offended me anymore) on a paragraph by paragraph basis, but I decided against it. I started a thread on BBO Forums here instead.

Edit: I should have googled this first. Only the first bit was actually written/recited by Ben Stein. Guess Mikey's on his own for the rest of it.

The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary.

My confession:

I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees, Christmas trees.. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are: Christmas trees.

It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, 'Merry Christmas' to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu . If people want a crche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him? I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where these celebrities came from and where the America we knew went to.

In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking.

Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her 'How could God let something like this happen?' (regarding Katrina) Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, 'I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?'

In light of recent events... terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found a few years ago) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said OK.

Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with 'WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.'

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.

Are you laughing yet?

Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it.

Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.

Pass it on if you think it has merit. If not then just discard it... no one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don't sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in.

My Best Regards, Honestly and respectfully,

Ben Stein

Bad bid, bad lead, bad defensive play, bad declarer play

Jonathan Ferguson — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 02:54:00 GMT

Played a half set on BBO against Jeff and Paul with a guy named Dan (not Korbel.) We should have won but I was less than solid and we got pipped by an IMP and change.

My first mistake was a bidding mistake:

A93 / J / AQJ976 / AK9

I opened 1 Diamond and partner bid the expected 1 Heart. ...

I'm definitely too good for 3 Diamonds. That leaves 1 Spade, 2 Spades and 3 Clubs as possible bids. I think 3 Clubs is right because even though it takes up a lot of space, manufacturing a Spade bid is just too risky. If partner has 4 Spades it might be awfully hard to convince him that you don't really have them after all.

I should have decided what I was going to do before I even opened 1 Diamond. I started to tank (7 or 8 seconds) and then I felt slimy about making any call after a tank on a 3-card suit and so I decided to bid 2NT. Pard thought a bit and bid 3NT. Sigh. I, of course, passed.

Pard had the nightmare super-max.

K8 / AKT5 / K82 / 6532

12 top tricks. I'm pretty sure pard would drive to slam with this after a 3 Club bid.

My 2nd mistake was an easy declarer play problem where I lost a Heart spot and blew an uptrick (although when you're only in 3 Spades maybe taking every last trick so you can make 5 isn't always best if partner underbid.)

My 3rd mistake was an opening lead problem.

Jeff opened a Polish Club on my left, Paul bid 1 Spade on my right and Jeff bid 4 Spades.

754 / 97643 / 974 / Q4

I hate leading from nothing. Pard has to have an openerish hand if we have any chance here. Why didn't he bid? Maybe he has Clubs. With a great 4 card suit he might have overcalled. Could this be the one time that my string of dozens of failed leads from honor-doubleton in an unbid suit comes to an end?

...

Nope.

I actually thought I was a hero when dummy tracked:

AKJ9 / A2 / KQ / T8752

Unfortunately, pard had

Q3 / QJT5 / AT32 / A63

and not only did my lead kill our 2nd defensive winner in the suit, but it let Paul pick off pard's Qx of Spades (presumably assuming that I wouldn't be trying for a ruff with Qxx of Spades.)

Ugh.

My final lapse was a defensive one.

963 / KT87 / AKQJ / K9

I opened 1NT. Jeff showed Clubs & Spades. Paul bid 3 Spades and Jeff bid 4, smashed by partner.

I should probably lead a trump here, but I wanted to have a look (and was worried about Diamonds going away on Clubs.) I led the Diamond Ace.

AQ82 / Q2 / 96 / AJ762

I cashed 2 Diamonds and then agonized about whether to switch to a Heart or not. Could Paul have Qxx of Clubs and Kxxxx of Spades and cash 10 tricks if we don't take our 4 first?

I decided that partner wouldn't be doubling this with only the Ace of Hearts and out. I switched to a trump.

Paul won in his hand with the Jack and now played a Heart up.

This is such an easy duck in hindsight (or if I had given it more than a modicum of thought at the time.) Paul is marked with the KJ of Spades so partner has nothing there. I had the AKQJ of Diamonds. Did partner really double this with nothing but the Jack of Hearts and QT of Clubs (not to mention at most a doubleton Spade and probably just a stiff?)

Uh, no. But I did my best Larry Lunchmeat impression and hopped right up with the King of Hearts.

Paul was happy to escape for down 1.

AQ82 / Q2 / 96 / AJ762

KJT54 / J965 / T83 / 5

1: http://www.bridgebase.com/myhands/fetchlin.php?id=90850925&when_played=1223755219
2: http://www.bridgebase.com/myhands/fetchlin.php?id=90851799&when_played=1223755219
3: http://www.bridgebase.com/myhands/fetchlin.php?id=90851733&when_played=1223755219
4: http://www.bridgebase.com/myhands/fetchlin.php?id=90854585&when_played=1223755219

The Prodigal Son

Jonathan Ferguson — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 01:56:00 GMT

So, anything happen while I was gone?

I had a nice 6+ week vacation in Ottawa/Kingston in Sept/Oct. Played some in the Ottawa regional but mostly just visited with my family. I got to meet my delightful niece Isidora, who just turned 4, and reintroduce myself to my charming niece Serena, who is 5 (and who I hadn't seen since she was learning to walk.)

The Ottawa regional was a bit of a flop. Played in the first KO with a pickup pard from the maritimes on a team with Linda Lewis and Mike Cappelletti Sr. We won both halves of the 3-way in the evening (knocking Jeff's squad out of the event in the process) and then the next morning drew the 'Godzilla' team in the event, featuring Gavin & Curtis, with John Hurd and Kevin Bathurst thrown in for good measure, captained by Beverly Perry. My pard had a shaky first set, misdefending a couple of partscores, but otherwise the squad was solid and we were only down 10. Unfortunately we had to play against the 4 pros in the 2nd half. We had a HUGE 2nd half at our table though, win 20ish with no minus positions. Alas, our teammates brought back a lose 15ish card and we had only clawed back 4 IMPs to lose by 6. The Perry squad went on to dominate the regional, winning every event they played in.

After the narrow loss our squad talked about playing in the KO that was starting that afternoon and I initially agreed but then some bickering started and I backed out. Lo and behold Jeff and Paul showed up looking and so Mike and Linda ended up with a decent pair (while I went home and helped change the storm windows.)

I made several more trips to the partnership desk that week but there really wasn't anyone loose. So that just meant more family time. A trip up to the cottage (my favorite place on earth) on Sunday when the weather turned warm (relatively speaking) led up to the final Swiss on Monday.

Peter and I had talked about playing at some point, but he was booked with Wayne Perrin that day. Since I was partnerless they went ahead and hooked up with a couple of locals, Richard Soderstrom and Michael Baggott. Then John (Zaluski) was overheard asking if anyone was looking (this was just before game time) because his Dad had just flown in from China the night before and wanted to play. So I would be playing with Ed on a 6-bagger.

Since Ed had not arrived yet, the sitout for the first match was a no-brainer. We played against a B squad featuring Wayne's (fairly long-ago) ex. Needless to say, we lost.

Ed arrived and we won both our matches fairly comfortably. Then it was our turn to sit out again and once again we lost.

If memory serves, we were 2-2 at the break with 2 largish wins and 2 narrow losses, which left us okay on the 20 point scale as long as we won out.

I think we blitzed our 5th match and then we had to decide who would sit out when for the last 2 matches (7 total.) Since Ed and I had won all of our matches and lost all of our sitouts we felt like we at least deserved a random chance to not be the pair that sat out 3 times. We flipped for it (whichever coin didn't match got the 3rd sitout) and Richard and Michael retired to the peanut gallery (they had only sat out the 3rd match at that point.)

Match 6 was against Jonathan Steinberg, John Zaluski and company. They'd had a good tournament and were probably the best team in the field (Perry's squad had gone home the day before.) I had a rough set with a lot of tough decisions (mostly bidding) that just didn't work out. Ed was less than stellar. I was not a happy camper. But the boys brought back a monster and we tied.

With a match to go one team had already clinched first but we were well positioned to take 2nd if we blitzed. I don't remember much from that match. We won by 15 or so. We ended up one victory point ahead of the 4th place team and one victory point behind the 2nd place team. Sigh. At least we beat Steinberg, who was 5th.

Vegas Hands

Jonathan Ferguson — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 17:15:00 GMT

Three Vegas hands stand out in my memory. First a play problem.

IMPs (KO)

You have 8 tricks in in 3NT and must play this suit (spades).

ATx

xx

Lefty overcalled in this suit at the 1 level and you've already lost a trick to the Queen. You play low towards the ATx and Lefty ducks. Do you finesse for the overtrick? (If the finesse loses you are likely down.)

Additional information: 3NT was a hopeless contract but RHO was defending 2 Spades on the hand (the suit her partner overcalled in) and tried to give her partner a 'ruff'.

Same match:

AK3 / x / xxx / Qxxxxx

JT9xx2 / xxx / KJ / AK

RHO opened 1NT and you bid 2 Clubs (Capp, showing a single-suiter, alerted by partner) Lefty doubled (Stayman) and partner bid 3 Clubs (don't ask me why, if my suit is Hearts (likely) we're too high already. If it's Spades then we belong in game.) I bid 3 Spades and partner raised to 4.

Jack of Clubs lead. Plan the play.

xx / Ax / Axxxx / Axxx

You opened 1 Diamond. LHO overcalled 1 Spade. Partner doubled. RHO bid 4 Spades. Float. Partner led a Diamond. Declarer calls for the King.

KTxxxx / Qxx / Kx / x2 Dummy (RHO)

xx / A2 / Axxxx / Axx3

Plan the defense.

If you cashed the Ace of Clubs and then the Ace of Hearts (probably not best) partner played the 4 of Clubs and then the 3 of Hearts. (playing upside down carding) Now what?

On the first hand, my partner actually finessed and went down. I was in shock. We'd had a pretty rough set (this board was towards the end of the first half) without doing anything particularly awful. It was apparent from the tabletalk that one of our opponents had lost her mind and that we were slated to pick up at least a half dozen and maybe a lot more here. Instead of tied we were down 12 at the half. Same partner passed my 1 Diamond opener with an Ace and a King. Some folks might enjoy that style of play, but to me it's not bridge.

ON the second hand, same match, I was declarer. The opening lead screamed singleton to me. Even if it's not, I'm allowed to be lucky ONE TIME and have trumps break 2-2. I won the Club and led the Jack of Spades. About 5 seconds later LHO managed to play a Spade. ... Whatever ... I called for the AK of Spades. LHO showed out on the 2nd one. Down in a cooler (both Diamonds onside.) Had to play to ruff 2 Hearts in Dummy. LHO had led the Club from Jx even with a singleton trump.

The final hand was from the last Sunday. I had played essentially perfect bridge all day and here partner had to decide if he was in the bridge-playing business or the partner-****ing business. Do you continue a Club or a Heart?

For starters, I hate partner's defense so far. Normal defense to me is to win the diamond and cash the Ace of Hearts. If partner encourages (from known length) then cash the Ace of Clubs (just in case Declarer is 5-2-4-2) and continue Hearts. If partner discourages, then underlead the club Ace. If partner plays the Jack of Hearts (and isn't the type to throw an honor as a 'normal' discouraging signal) then give him a Diamond ruff (Declarer could be 5-2-5-1.)

But once you choose to follow this path, the hand to me is awfully simple. You can choose to trust the Club signal from unknown length, you can choose to trust the Heart signal from known length, or you can flip a coin. Obviously the Heart signal is more reliable. Partner might have Qx in Clubs and was reluctant to part with the Queen. He signalled encouragement in Hearts AFTER the Club play (with consequently more information) and from KNOWN length. Continue hearts.

This was the one hand I slipped on during the 2nd Sunday Swiss. I held:

x / KJTxxx / Txx / QJx

When partner switched to the Ace of Clubs I should have played the Queen. But I was under the gun and it seems normal for partner to have already switched to the Heart Ace if he had it. I also didn't want to break tempo and make a decision because that puts a lot of ethical pressure on partner. So I played low in tempo.

In spite of my unambiguous encouragement in Hearts from known length (from my negative double) partner switched back to Clubs and Dummy's heart losers eventually went away on minor suit winners.

KTxxxx / Qxx / Kx / xx

AQJx / xx / QJx / KTxx

Star Kibitzer

Jonathan Ferguson — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 22:05:00 GMT

While I was busy kibitzing most of the tournament, my friend Joanie played 2 sessions every day except the 2nd Sunday. Then she showed me that she's an even better kibitzer than I am when she kibitzed Marin Marinov's team for 3 matches on Sunday and he blitzed all 3 matches! If she had only kibitzed him for one more match his team might have won the event (they finished 5th and scored more VPs in those 3 matches than the other 5 + carryover combined.)

Wednesday

Sitout first half (team went 1-3 and were sitting 2nd last)

2-2 scoring a few VPs above avg in 2nd half but not enough to Q

Thursday

GNT squad disappeared so ...
Kibitzed Hamman some and Pollack some in GNT

Friday

Played KO's won 2 matches

Saturday

Lost semi-finals, played solid, partner spotty.

Sunday

Nobody with a pulse at partnership desk so went sightseeing. Walked all the way to the South end of the strip and back to the Sahara (where we stayed until Tuesday.)

Spingold team fell apart at least minute, too late to find replacements.

Played with Peter Clark in the IMP Pairs side game. We had the most error-free set I can ever remember us having (I blew a red downtrick on the last board.) +25 was good for a section 2nd. I don't know how much the winners our way were paying their opponents but they finished with +81. I don't think we could have duplicated that result if you'd given us the hand records ahead of time.

Monday

Entered KO's opposite first round of Spingold. Good opportunity for relatively easy monsterpoints. Pard made weird decisions (that didn't work) opponents made weird decisions (that worked) and I was better than most but less than flawless. If I'm flawless we squeak out a close win. Story of my life.

Got guilt-tripped at last minute into playing side Swiss with same team minus weird-decision-making but generally competent partner plus intermediate-minus social butterfly. As often is the case, with nothing at stake I made no mistakes that cost, but even that was only good enough for a 2-2 finish.

Tuesday

Kibitzed Demuy-Delmonte in round of 64 of Spingold.

Wednesday

Kibitzed Demuy-Delmonte in round of 32 against Nystrom-Bertheau (Mahaffey)

Thursday

Almost played with Sondra Blank, but I loathe Fast Pairs (the National Event starting that day) and I didn't want to be in charge of finding another pair for the mixed B-A-M teams (the other National Event starting that day.) Kibitzed Vince and Ish against Zia and Hamman in the round of 16.

Friday

Ran into Cole Powell, an attorney from the Bay Area who I play with or on teams with every few years or so. We put a compact KO squad together (each of us wanted to play in the National Swiss starting Saturday) and against surprisingly good opponents in 2 of the 4 rounds managed to sneak to victory in the event. Agreed to play with Gary Brown, a teammate from that team, in the next day's National Swiss. Left him in charge.

Saturday

Met Gary and bought an entry for the NABC swiss (he said we were playing with Cole & pard.) Cole & pard had other ideas. I wasn't in the mood for pairs.

Played with Joanie, Kevin and Jeffrey in the evening. Saw Bill Gates and Warren Buffett walk by on their way out of the playing area while we were in the middle of a hand in the last match. Resisted urge to leap up from table and chase after them. Boys were very excited with the win.

Sunday

Introduced myself to Bill Gates when I saw him by the vendors with a couple of his teammates before game time.

Entered Swiss with Gary. Wouldn't change a single bidding/play decision I made all day except for a minor technical carding error on the penultimate hand that 99% of partners wouldn't punish me for. Unfortunately, my partner was one of the 1%. So we finish out of the money instead of 15th.