Richard Jeng - Breaks Record for Youngest Life Master

Richard Jeng of Johns Creek, Georgia, at nine years, six months and twelve days has become the youngest Life Master in ACBL history. Jeng’s accomplishment breaks the previous record of youngest Life Master held by Adam Kaplan, of New Port Richey, Florida. Kaplan became a Life Master, in 2006, at the age of 10 years and 43 days. Read more...

Jeng, his brother and bridge partner, Andrew Jeng, who turned 12 in May of this year, both achieved the rank of Life Master together this past Saturday, September 12th. while playing at the Alpharetta Duplicate Bridge club in Alpharetta.

Achieving the rank of Life Master is the dream of all serious bridge players. Some never make it in their lifetime, while others seem to have a special gift for the game and become Life Masters within a very short time. The Jeng brothers, children of Sam and Wenwei Jeng, obviously, have that special gift for the game.

To become a Life Master, a player must win a specified number of masterpoints at different levels of play, including major bridge tournaments, and accumulate 300 specified “colored” masterpoints. A masterpoint is the unit which measures bridge achievement in tournament play.

In June, 2006, Richard Jeng, then, age 6 and Andrew Jeng, age 9, first learned to play bridge through a summer Atlanta Junior Bridge camp. They have remained steadfast bridge partners since that time and have earned most all of their Life Master points by playing together as partners.

When asked about the secret to his success in bridge, 9 year old Jeng, states, “The secret to success and winning in bridge is that there is no secret at all. All you have to do is believe in yourself.”

The Jeng brothers play bridge in all the Atlanta Junior Bridge games and tournaments and are frequent winners. They also play in adult bridge games and tournaments in the Atlanta, Georgia area, as well as online at Bridge Base Online. They have attended the past two ACBL’s Youth North American Bridge Championships.

In addition to bridge, the brothers are award winning pianists and both have earned first degree Black Belts in Karate.
Link to this article

Thanks,
In His Service
Jerry Lemieux

Horn Lake Welcomes ACBL

Amid considerable fanfare and with numerous government officials on hand, the city of Horn Lake MS welcomed the ACBL, which will relocate national Headquarters from Memphis later this year. Horn Lake is a suburb of Memphis, just a few miles from the Tennesse border in North Mississippi.

Ceremonies took place on the property, a 30,000-square-foot building originally designed as a medical facility. The ACBL will have it renovated to accommodate the Headquarters staff. Jay Baum, ACBL's chief executive, said the work probably will begin in mid-July. "We hope to be able to move in before the end of the year," Baum said. Read More...

The total cost of the project, including the purchase price of the building and renovations, is expected to be about $3 million. On hand to welcome the ACBL were Horn Lake Mayor Nat Baker, representatives from Mississippi's Senator Thad Cochran and Congressman Travis Childer's offices, along with representatives of the Board of Supervisors, plus others involved in business development in DeSoto County.

Baker read a message from Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, whose trip to Horn Lake for the occasion was scrapped because of bad flying weather. ACBL's decision to move to Horn Lake, Barbour said in his message to Baker, "is good news for the city, DeSoto County and Mississippi as a whole."

The ACBL has been in Memphis since 1972, when Headquarters was moved from Greenwich CT. For 18 years, the ACBL occupied a building on Democrat Road near the Memphis International Airport. The ACBL moved to its current Airways Boulevard location in 1990. The ACBL Board of Directors considered moving out of the Memphis area -- Dallas and Atlanta were possibilities -- before approving the purchase of the Horn Lake property.

Just off of Interstate 55 in North Mississippi, the new facility will be easily accessible for visitors to the Memphis area and will have ample room for housing the North American Contract Bridge Museum, the world's largest collection of bridge memorabilia, the Albert H. Morehead Memorial Library and the ACBL Bridge Hall of Fame.


Thanks,
In His Service
Jerry Lemieux

This is very interesting!/In The 1500's

This is very interesting!
In The 1500's

The next time you are washing your hands

and complain because the water temperature isn't

just how you like it, think about how things used to be.

Here are some facts about the 1500s:

These are interesting...

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May,

and still smelled pretty good by June. However, they were starting to smell,

so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor.

Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege

of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally

the children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually

lose someone in it. Hence the saying,

Don't throw the baby out with the Bath water..

Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath.

It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other

small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery

and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Hence the saying It's raining cats and dogs.

There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a

real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up

your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the

top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt.. Hence the saying,

Dirt poor. The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet,

so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on,

they added more thresh until, when you opened the door, it would all start slipping outside.

A piece of wood was placed in the entrance way. Hence the saying a thresh hold.

(Getting quite an education, aren't you?)

In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always

hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot.

They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the

stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then

start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there

for quite a while. Hence the rhyme, Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold,

peas porridge in the pot nine days old...

Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors

came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man

could bring home the bacon. They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all

sit around and chew the fat..

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of

the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning death. This happened most often

with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf,

the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or the upper crust.

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whiskey. The combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of holding a wake.

England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to

bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a

bone-house, and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to

have scratch marks on the inside and they realized

they had been burying people alive. So they would tie a string on the wrist

of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie

it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the graveyard shift) to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be,

saved by the bell, or was considered a dead ringer.

And that's the truth....Now, whoever said History was boring ! ! !

Educate someone.

Share these facts with a friend.
I hope you enjoyed this tour of history
thanks
Jerry

How to maintain A Healthy Level Of Insanity

1. At Lunch Time, Sit In Your Parked Car With Sunglasses on and point a Hair Dryer At Passing Cars. See If They Slow Down.

2. Page Yourself Over The Intercom. Don't Disguise Your Voice!

3. Every Time Someone Asks You To Do Something, ask If They Want Fries with that.

4. Put Decaf In The Coffee Maker For 3 Weeks . Once Everyone has Gotten Over Their Caffeine Addictions, Switch to Espresso.

5. In the Memo Field Of All Your Checks, Write "For Marijuana"

6. Skip down the hall Rather Than Walk and see how many looks you get.

7. Order a Diet Water whenever you go out to eat, with a serious face.

8. Specify That Your Drive-through Order Is 'To Go'.
9. Sing Along At The Opera.

10. Five Days In Advance, Tell Your Friends You Can't Attend Their Party Because You have a headache..

11. When The Money Comes Out The ATM, Scream 'I Won! I Won!'

12. When Leaving the Zoo, Start Running towards the Parking lot, Yelling 'Run For Your Lives! They're Loose!'

13. Tell Your Children Over Dinner, 'Due To The Economy, We Are Going To Have To Let One Of You Go.'

And The Final Way To Keep A Healthy Level Of Insanity:

Send This To Someone To Make Them Smile. It's Called ..

THERAPY

Enjoy your day tell someone you love them today
Jerry Lemieux

At the Bridge Table, Clues to a Lucid Old Age

Georgia Scott, 99, center, during a game of bridge at her retirement community. “It’s what keeps us going,” she says.

By BENEDICT CAREY

Published: May 21, 2009

LAGUNA WOODS, Calif. — The ladies in the card room are playing bridge, and at their age the game is no hobby. It is a way of life, a daily comfort and challenge, the last communal campfire before all goes dark.

The 90+ Study

For all that scientists have studied it, the brain remains the most complex and mysterious human organ — and, now, the focus of billions of dollars’ worth of research to penetrate its secrets.

This is the second article in a series that will look in depth at some of the insights these projects are producing.

This bridge game is not for the timid. Norma Koskoff, left, Ruth Cummins and Georgia Scott expect the best from every player. If someone’s skills start slipping, it is time to find a new table.

“We play for blood,” says Ruth Cummins, 92, before taking a sip of Red Bull at a recent game.

“It’s what keeps us going,” adds Georgia Scott, 99. “It’s where our closest friends are.”

In recent years scientists have become intensely interested in what could be called a super memory club — the fewer than one in 200 of us who, like Ms. Scott and Ms. Cummins, have lived past 90 without a trace of dementia. It is a group that, for the first time, is large enough to provide a glimpse into the lucid brain at the furthest reach of human life, and to help researchers tease apart what, exactly, is essential in preserving mental sharpness to the end.

“These are the most successful agers on earth, and they’re only just beginning to teach us what’s important, in their genes, in their routines, in their lives,” said Dr. Claudia Kawas, a neurologist at the University of California, Irvine. “We think, for example, that it’s very important to use your brain, to keep challenging your mind, but all mental activities may not be equal. We’re seeing some evidence that a social component may be crucial.”

Laguna Woods, a sprawling retirement community of 20,000 south of Los Angeles, is at the center of the world’s largest decades-long study of health and mental acuity in the elderly. Begun by University of Southern California researchers in 1981 and called the 90+ Study, it has included more than 14,000 people aged 65 and older, and more than 1,000 aged 90 or older.

Such studies can take years to bear fruit, and the results of this study are starting to alter the way scientists understand the aging brain. The evidence suggests that people who spend long stretches of their days, three hours and more, engrossed in some mental activities like cards may be at reduced risk of developing dementia. Researchers are trying to tease apart cause from effect: Are they active because they are sharp, or sharp because they are active?

The researchers have also demonstrated that the percentage of people with dementia after 90 does not plateau or taper off, as some experts had suspected. It continues to increase, so that for the one in 600 people who make it to 95, nearly 40 percent of the men and 60 percent of the women qualify for a diagnosis of dementia.

At the same time, findings from this and other continuing studies of the very old have provided hints that some genes may help people remain lucid even with brains that show all the biological ravages of Alzheimer’s disease. In the 90+ Study here, now a joint project run by U.S.C. and the University of California, Irvine, researchers regularly run genetic tests, test residents’ memory, track their activities, take blood samples, and in some cases do postmortem analyses of their brains. Researchers at Irvine maintain a brain bank of more than 100 specimens.

To move into the gated village of Laguna Woods, a tidy array of bungalows and condominiums that blends easily into southern Orange County, people must meet several requirements, one of which is that they do not need full-time care. Their minds are sharp when they arrive, whether they are 65 or 95.

They begin a new life here. Make new friends. Perhaps connect with new romantic partners. Try new activities, at one of the community’s fitness centers; or new hobbies, in the more than 400 residents’ clubs. They are as busy as arriving freshmen at a new campus, with one large difference: they are less interested in the future, or in the past.

“We live for the day,” said Dr. Leon Manheimer, a longtime resident who is in his 90s.

Yet it is precisely that ability to form new memories of the day, the present, that usually goes first in dementia cases, studies in Laguna Woods and elsewhere have found.

The very old who live among their peers know this intimately, and have developed their own expertise, their own laboratory. They diagnose each other, based on careful observation. And they have learned to distinguish among different kinds of memory loss, which are manageable and which ominous.

A Seat at the Table

Here at Laguna Woods, many residents make such delicate calculations in one place: the bridge table.

Contract bridge requires a strong memory. It involves four players, paired off, and each player must read his or her partner’s strategy by closely following what is played. Good players remember every card played and its significance for the team. Forget a card, or fall behind, and it can cost the team — and the social connection — dearly.

“When a partner starts to slip, you can’t trust them,” said Julie Davis, 89, a regular player living in Laguna Woods. “That’s what it comes down to. It’s terrible to say it that way, and worse to watch it happen. But other players get very annoyed. You can’t help yourself.”

• At the Friday afternoon bridge game, Ms. Cummins and Ms. Scott sit with two other players, both women in their 90s. Gossip flows freely between hands, about residents whose talk is bigger than their game, about a 100-year-old man who collapsed and died that week in an exercise class.

  For all that scientists have studied it, the brain remains the most complex and mysterious human organ — and, now, the focus of billions of dollars’ worth of research to penetrate its secrets.

  But the women are all business during play.

  “What was that you played, a spade was it?” a partner asks Ms. Cummins.

  “Yes, a spade,” says Ms. Cummins, with some irritation. “It was a spade.”

  Later, the partner stares uncertainly at the cards on the table. “Is that ——”

  “We played that trick already,” Ms. Cummins says. “You’re a trick behind.”

  Most regular players at Laguna Woods know of at least one player who, embarrassed by lapses, bowed out of the regular game. “A friend of mine, a very good player, when she thought she couldn’t keep up, she automatically dropped out,” Ms. Cummins said. “That’s usually what happens.”

  Yet it is part of the tragedy of dementia that, in many cases, the condition quickly robs people of self-awareness. They will not voluntarily abandon the one thing that, perhaps more than any other, defines their daily existence.

  “And then it’s really tough,” Ms. Davis said. “I mean, what do you do? These are your friends.”

  Staying in the Game

  So far, scientists here have found little evidence that diet or exercise affects the risk of dementia in people over 90. But some researchers argue that mental engagement — doing crossword puzzles, reading books — may delay the arrival of symptoms. And social connections, including interaction with friends, may be very important, some suspect. In isolation, a healthy human mind can go blank and quickly become disoriented, psychologists have found.

  “There is quite a bit of evidence now suggesting that the more people you have contact with, in your own home or outside, the better you do” mentally and physically, Dr. Kawas said. “Interacting with people regularly, even strangers, uses easily as much brain power as doing puzzles, and it wouldn’t surprise me if this is what it’s all about.”

  And bridge, she added, provides both kinds of stimulation.

  The unstated rule at Laguna Woods is to support a friend who is slipping, to act as a kind of memory supplement. “We’re all afraid to lose memory; we’re all at risk of that,” said one regular player in her 90s, who asked not to be named.

  Woody Bowersock, 96, a former school principal, helped a teammate on a swim team at Laguna Woods to race even as dementia stole the man’s ability to form almost any new memory.

  “You’d have to put him up on the platform just before the race, just walk him over there,” Mr. Bowersock said. “But if the whistle didn’t blow right away, he’d wander off. I tell you, I’d sometimes have to stand there with him until he was in the water. Then he was fine. A very good swimmer. Freestyle.”

  Bridge is a different kind of challenge, but some residents here swear that the very good players can play by instinct even when their memory is dissolving.

  “I know a man who’s 95, he is starting with dementia and plays bridge, and he forgets hands,” said Marilyn Ruekberg, who lives in Laguna Woods. “I bring him in as a partner anyway, and by the end we do exceedingly well. I don’t know how he does it, but he has lots of experience in the game.”

  Scientists suspect that some people with deep experience in a game like bridge may be able to draw on reserves to buffer against memory lapses. But there is not enough evidence one way or the other to know.

  Ms. Ruekberg said she cared less about that than about her friend: “I just want to give him something more during the day than his four walls.”

  Drawing the Line

  In studies of the very old, researchers in California, New York, Boston and elsewhere have found clues to that good fortune. For instance, Dr. Kawas’s group has found that some people who are lucid until the end of a very long life have brains that appear riddled with Alzheimer’s disease. In a study released last month, the researchers report that many of them carry a gene variant called APOE2, which may help them maintain mental sharpness.

  Dr. Nir Barzilai of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine has found that lucid Ashkenazi Jewish centenarians are three times more likely to carry a gene called CETP, which appears to increase the size and amount of so-called good cholesterol particles, than peers who succumbed to dementia.

  “We don’t know how this could be protective, but it’s very strongly correlated with good cognitive function at this late age,” Dr. Barzilai said. “And at least it gives us a target for future treatments.”

  For those in the super-memory club, that future is too far off to be meaningful. What matters most is continued independence. And that means that, at some point, they have to let go of close friends.

  “The first thing you always want to do is run and help them,” Ms. Davis said. “But after a while you end up asking yourself: ‘What is my role here? Am I now the caregiver?’ You have to decide how far you’ll go, when you have your own life to live.”

  In this world, as in high school, it is all but impossible to take back an invitation to the party. Some players decide to break up their game, at least for a time, only to reform it with another player. Or, they might suggest that a player drop down a level, from a serious game to a more casual one. No player can stand to hear that. Every day in card rooms around the world, some of them will.

  “You don’t play with them, period,” Ms. Cummins said. “You’re not cruel. You’re just busy.”

  The rhythm of bidding and taking tricks, the easy conversation between hands, the daily game — after almost a century, even for the luckiest in the genetic lottery, it finally ends.

  “People stop playing,” said Norma Koskoff, another regular player here, “and very often when they stop playing, they don’t live much longer
  

Thanks Enjoy your Holiday Weekend
Jerry Lemieux

It's Only A Game

It’s only a game

By Earline Sloan

Duplicate players tend to be a serious lot. We want to compete, do well and improve our play. There are two ladies at the Shore Bridge Club in Atlantic City NJ who remind others that it is only a game, and we play to have fun. Dolores Wilson and Becky Dickerson met at the club four years ago while attending bridge lessons. They became close friends and discovered that they shared an interest in clowning.

They first showed up as Christmas trees at the annual holiday party. Now they have a surprise costume for almost every occasion. Other players don’t know if one will be Abraham Lincoln and the other George Washington on Presidents’ Day, or someone dressed in boxer shorts and gloves at knockout team games.

Club Manager Martin De Bruin thinks of the club as a family and the two help promote that spirit. Other club members say, “They keep us young,” and “They put a smile on my face.”

Because the two don’t take themselves too seriously, they make bridge more fun for everyone.

Enjoy your bridge Everyone

Study: Ginger Capsules Ease Chemotherapy Nausea

By MARILYNN MARCHIONE, AP Medical Writer Marilynn Marchione, Ap Medical Writer – Thu May 14, 6:10 pm ET

Ginger, long used as a folk remedy for soothing tummyaches, helped tame one of the most dreaded side effects of cancer treatment — nausea from chemotherapy, the first large study to test the herb for this has found.

People who started taking ginger capsules several days before a chemo infusion had fewer and less severe bouts of nausea afterward than others who were given dummy capsules, the federally funded study found.

"We were slightly beside ourselves" to see how much it helped, said study leader Julie Ryan of the University of Rochester in New York.

Results were released Thursday by the American Society of Clinical Oncology and will be presented at the group's annual meeting later this month.

But don't reach for the ginger ale. Many sodas and cookies contain only flavoring — not real ginger, Ryan said. Her study tested a drug-like ginger root extract, and it's not known if people could get the same benefits from ginger teas or the powdered ginger sold as a spice.

Still, ginger capsules may offer a cheap, simple way to fight nausea, which is far more than just a quality-of-life issue, doctors say. Some cancer patients cut treatment short or refuse chemo altogether because of nausea, hurting their chances of beating the disease.

Medicines do a good job of curbing vomiting, but nearly three-fourths of chemo patients still suffer nausea, which can sometimes be worse, Ryan said.

"Patients ask all the time, 'What else can I do?'" said Dr. Richard Schilsky, a cancer specialist at the University of Chicago and president of the oncology society.

Ginger has long been touted for stomach upsets, ranging from motion sickness to morning sickness during pregnancy. Studies have had mixed results.

The new one used a specially formulated gelcap containing concentrated, purified ginger root extract made by Aphios Corp. of Woburn, Mass.

The study involved 644 patients from cancer centers around the nation who had suffered nausea in a previous round of chemotherapy. Two-thirds had breast cancer and the rest, other forms of the disease. They were placed in four groups and given one of three doses of ginger (the equivalent of one-half, 1 or 1 1/2 grams of ginger per day) or dummy capsules in addition to standard anti-sickness medicines.

Patients took the capsules for six days, beginning three days before chemo treatment. They rated their nausea symptoms on a seven-point scale on the first day of each of three treatments.

All of the ginger doses significantly reduced nausea, and the middle and lowest doses gave the best results. Patients taking ginger scored their nausea an average of two or more points lower on the nausea scale, about a 40 percent improvement over their previous chemo treatments without ginger, Ryan said. Those given dummy pills reported hardly any difference.

Timing may have been key to success: An earlier study found ginger did no good when patients waited until the day of treatment to start taking it. In the new study, researchers wanted to see if having ginger in the system ahead of time would help.

"It was just a different way of thinking to treat nausea, to try and pre-empt it," Ryan said.

Ginger caused no side effects in the new study, but doctors say people should talk with their doctors before trying it because it can interfere with blood clotting, especially during cancer treatment or if taken with the blood thinner Coumadin or other commonly used medicines. It's also a risk for people having surgery, the American Cancer Society warns.

The National Cancer Institute paid for the study, and researchers had no ties to the ginger capsules' maker, Aphios. The company already sells a different type of ginger capsule as a dietary supplement, but hopes to seek federal Food and Drug Administration approval to sell its new ginger formulation as a drug to treat nausea, said chief executive officer Trevor Castor.

As dietary supplements, 50 to 100 ginger capsules sell for $6 to $30, Ryan said.

"We can't specifically say if any other form besides the form in our study would work," she added.

Still, it is heartening that ginger may offer hope as a cheap and simple way to ease the burden of chemotherapy on patients and their families, said Dr. Durado Brooks of the Cancer Society.

"It's difficult to watch someone suffer, to watch someone be miserable. So anything we can do to help alleviate chemotherapy symptoms is very welcome," he said.

Have you seen this? It's a good idea. Please pass along....

I have been checking labels some but I'm going to do more now. We'll all benefit in the long run.

In our current economic situation, every little thing we buy or do
affects someone else and perhaps even their job. So, after reading this
email, I think this lady is on the right track. Let's get behind her!!

My grandson likes Hershey's candy. It is marked made in Mexico now.
I do not buy it any more. My favorite toothpaste Colgate is made in
Mexico now. have switched to Crest. You have to read the labels on everything.

This past weekend I was at Kroger. I needed 60W light bulbs and
Bounce dryer sheets. I was in the light bulb aisle and right next to the
GE brand I normally buy was an off brand labeled, "Everyday Value." I
picked up both types of bulbs and compared the stats - they were the same
except for the price. The GE bulbs were more money than the Everyday Value
brand but the thing that surprised me the most was the fact that GE was made in MEXICO
and the Everyday Value brand was made in - get ready for this - the USA in a company in Cleveland, Ohio.

So throw out the myth that you cannot find products you use every day
that are made right here.

So on to another aisle - Bounce Dryer Sheets....yep, you guessed it,
Bounce cost more money and is made in Canada. The Everyday Value
brand was less money and MADE IN THE USA! I did laundry yesterday and the dryer sheets performed just like the Bounce Free I have been using for years and at almost half the price!

So my challenge to you is to start reading the labels when you shop
for everyday things and see what you can find that is made in the
USA - the job you save may be your own or your neighbors!

If you accept the challenge, pass this on to others in your
address book so we can all start buying American, one light bulb at a time!
Stop buying from China ...and Mexico.

(We should have awakened a decade ago......)
Let's get with the program.... help our fellow Americans keep their
jobs and create more jobs here in the U.S.A.!!!

Thanks,
In His Service
Jerry Lemieux
jerrlem@tampabay.rr.com

Check Out My Blog
http://duplicatebridgeandmore.blogspot.com/

Big Bad VooDoo Daddy: King of Swing

If you like swing checkout this Video Below:

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=13149673&ch=4226715&src=news
Enjoy,
Jerry

Hollywood in showdown over DVD 'ripper'

* By PAUL ELIAS, Associated Press Writer - Fri Apr 24, 2009 7:45PM EDT


SAN FRANCISCO -

Hollywood calls it "rent, rip and return" and contends it's one of the biggest technological threats to the movie industry's annual $20 billion DVD market — software that allows you to copy a film without paying for it.

On Friday, industry lawyers urged a federal judge to bar RealNetworks Inc. from selling software that allows consumers to copy their DVDs to computer hard drives, arguing that the Seattle-based company's product is an illegal pirating tool.

RealNetworks' lawyers countered later in the morning that its RealDVD product is equipped with piracy protections that limits a DVD owner to making a single copy and a legitimate way to back up copies of movies legally purchased.

The same federal judge who shut down the music-swapping site Napster in 2000 because of copyright violations is presiding over the three-day trial, which is expected to cut to the heart of the same technological upheaval roiling Hollywood that forever changed the face of the music business.

The studios fear that if RealNetworks is allowed to sell its RealDVD software, consumers will quickly lose interest in paying retail for movies on DVD that can be rented cheaply, copied and returned.

Their lawyers argue the software violates a federal law known as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act that makes software and other tools that enable digital piracy illegal. They also contend shoppers will widely condone such illegal behavior if RealNetworks' product is allowed on the market.

Bart Williams, a lawyer representing the studios, told the judge that evidence uncovered in the litigation shows RealNetworks engineers purchased copying software illegal in the United States from a company in Ukraine.

"One is not supposed to copy DVDs and that's in fact what RealDVD does," Williams said. "Real's objective in all of this is to make money off the studios' investments without paying for it."

The company argues that the contract it signed with the DVD Copy Control Association, which equips DVD player manufacturers with the keys to unscrambling DVDs, allows RealDVD because the software doesn't alter or remove anti-piracy encryption like illicit software that is easily obtained for free online.

RealNetworks says its product legally fills growing consumer demand to convert their DVDs to digital form for convenient storage and viewing.

"RealNetworks saw there was an unmet consumer need," said company lawyer Leo Cunningham. "RealNetworks is a company that respects copyrights."

In October, U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel temporarily barred sales of RealDVD after the product was on the market for a few days. At the time, the judge said it appeared the software did violate federal law against digital piracy, but ordered detailed court filings and the trial to better understand how RealDVD works.

The lawsuit has incurred widespread wrath from bloggers, digital rights advocates and groups on both sides of the political spectrum, including former Republican congressman and Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr and the left-leaning Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Critics accuse the studios of stifling innovation as they attempt to develop their own copying software.

"It's all about control," said Cato Institute scholar Timothy Lee. "No one is allowed to innovate in the DVD space without industry permission."

The industry, through the Motion Picture Association of America, counters that its goal is to stamp out piracy. It says it welcomes legitimate attempts at innovation.

Regardless of the trial's outcome — and the judge isn't expected to rule immediately — some predict that Hollywood control over digital copies will continue to wane because of the proliferation of illegal software online.

"If Hollywood wins, I don't think much changes in the real world," said Fred von Lohmann, an attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "Anybody who wants DVDs copied can download software for free in 10 minutes."


Thanks,
In His Service
Jerry Lemieux
An Incredible Opportunity
http://theplanx.com
One Shop Stop
http://www.mywebcashstore.com/lemieux0435

Bridge for Beginners and Beyond -

Bridge for Beginners and Beyond -- Expanded & updated 16th edition.

A teaching and learning manual for beginners and intermediate players.

Bridge for Beginners and Beyond (© August 2007, orange cover) is a comprehensive guide to good bridge for beginner and intermediate-level players. It's designed to teach the game to newcomers and help current players build on their knowledge of the basics, improve their skills and refine their bidding systems. The book is used by bridge teachers in Champaign-Urbana IL and other communities, and can also be used as a self-teaching guide.

The new 16th edition is 101 pages (14 more pages than previous editions) and includes updated bidding recommendations, more quiz and practice hands, and a new section on playing Internet bridge. Format is 8.5" x 11", spiral-bound.

The book begins with the bare basics for those who have never played and progresses to more advanced topics suitable for intermediate-level players. Each lesson presents the "how-to's" and "why's" in a concise format for easy reference. Lessons include General Rules sections that summarize the basic principles for each aspect of bidding or play, Quick Reference charts that can be used as bidding guides, and At the Table sections with many quiz hands to test your skills.

Bridge quotations and cartoons appear throughout the book. There are also new features on bridge trivia and history.

The book is organized into 20 lessons plus a "Quick Facts" reference chapter and sections on specialized topics:

Why play bridge? -- an overview of the mental, physical and social benefits of learning and playing the world's most popular card game.

How to use this book -- tips on how to progress through the lessons and practice your new skills.

Quick Facts -- point-count and other numbers to know, bridge vocabulary, scoring table, tear-out bidding "cheat-sheet".

1 - Getting Started -- the purpose of the game, introduction to bidding and play, contract requirements, how tricks are won, the roles of declarer and dummy.

2 - Opening Suit Bids -- opening 1 of a suit with balanced and semi-balanced hands.

3 - Responding to an Opening Suit Bid -- choosing the suit and level for a response to partner's opening bid.
New: Frequently asked questions and answers about responding bids.

4 - Opener's Rebids -- rebids after opening 1 of a suit with a balanced or semi-balanced hand.
New: The Rest of the Auction: Guidelines for responder's second bid

5 - Notrump Bidding -- opening and responding to 1NT and 2NT, the notrump opener's rebids, the Stayman 2C convention.
New: Updated bidding with 15-17 1NT and 20-22 2NT openings.

6 - Hand Evaluation -- determining a hand's strength by its distribution, suit quality, honor combinations & positions. Guidelines for when to make "light" opening bids.

7 - Bidding Unbalanced Hands -- describing strength and distribution, choosing opening bids and rebids, using the "reverse bid" to show extra values.

8 - Special Opening Bids for Unbalanced Hands -- strong and weak two-bids, strong-and-artificial 2C opening, preemptive three-bids and four-bids, sacrifice bidding.
New: Expanded section and practice hands for Weak Two-bids and the strong-and-artificial 2C opening.

Special section: Bidding Summary -- quick-reference guidelines and tables that summarize which bids and which auctions are signoff, invitational and forcing.

9 - Overcalls -- making and responding to suit and notrump overcalls, strong cuebid overcalls, balancing bids.

10 - Doubles -- penalty doubles and takeout doubles, responding to partner's takeout double, the takeout doubler's rebids.

11 - Competitive Auctions -- bidding over an opponent's overcall or double, using redoubles, evaluating trump fits, using the "Law of Total Tricks" to make competitive decisions.

12 - Declarer Play -- planning the play in suit and notrump contracts, establishing and cashing tricks, unblocking plays, developing long-suit winners, how to finesse, a table of common finessing combinations.

13 - Opening Leads -- standard guidelines for leading to suit and notrump contracts, plus advanced tips on choosing your opening-lead strategy.

14 - Defense -- second-hand and third-hand plays, bracketing, Rule of Eleven, unblocking plays, communicating with your partner by using attitude and count signals.

15 - Counting the Hand -- how to collect information from the bidding and play to make logical deductions about the unseen hands; card-reading and memory strategies; tips for defenders, declarers and dummies.

16 - Slam Bidding -- evaluating strength and controls, Blackwood 4NT, Gerber 4C, using cuebids to find aces and bid slams.
New: James Bond, the Duke of Cumberland Hand and The Curse of Scotland

17 - Refining Your System -- New-Minor Forcing, game-try bids, four more uses for cuebids.

18 - Popular Conventions -- Michaels Cuebids, Unusual 2NT overcalls, Jacoby Transfers, Negative Doubles, Jacoby 2NT Major-Suit Raise.
New: Texas Transfer & Drury 2C conventions

19 - Duplicate Bridge -- duplicate movements, scoring, using boards and bidding boxes, filling out a convention card, sample convention card, matchpoint and team-of-four strategies, alerts, duplicate customs.
New: The most disastrous bridge hand ever played (the Bennett murder trial)

20 - More Learning Opportunities -- recommended bridge books, software, websites and free online clubs; suggestions for individual practice; techniques for developing your memory and "card sense".
New: Internet Bridge -- how to choose a club and play online (free), the SAYC (Standard American Yellow Card) bidding system, printable SAYC convention card, online "lingo".

The book is available direct from the author for $12.00 (USD) plus postage (new USPS rates effective 5/12/08):
To U.S. addresses -- $4.80 for Priority Mail for one or two books (2-3 day delivery) OR
$2.30 for one book sent by Media Mail (2-6 day delivery, depending on distance from Illinois).
If you would like to purchase one or more please contact me thru the blog site and i will send you alink where you can buy online or buy by mail.
Have a great time playing bridge.

Thanks,
In His Service
Jerry Lemieux

Hi I thought this would be a very eye opening article on how we are becoming the laughing stock of the world and our country.
Yo, first couple!

---

Posted: April 06, 2009
1:00 am Eastern

© 2009

OK, Barack and Michelle – it's my turn now.

As long as you seem to be on the road of informality, throwing tradition, etiquette, proper diplomacy, protocol and common sense out the window and replacing it with 21st century casual, I'm taking the liberty, as an American citizen, to give you a message from my heart: stop it!

For two people of your political and diplomatic level, your breezy disregard for proper behavior is embarrassing.

Just a reminder: On Jan. 20, you were sworn in as president of the United States of America and your wife became first lady. It's a huge responsibility on many levels, but the most obvious involves what we see and hear.

Judging by what we've seen and heard lately, there are problems.

Remember "hope and change"? That campaign rhetoric got you elected. It was the philosophy of wishful thinking.

Hope – that you would maintain the dignity of the office and change – that you'd do what's right for the country.

Apparently we'll have to keep hoping because we got change, and it's not good.

We've been treated to you repeatedly criticizing and apologizing for our country on foreign soil in front of world leaders. Then, to make it worse, you bowed to the Saudi king, a full, from-the-waist, bow!

What was that about? Bowing signifies subservience! You can make book that the Saudis and all the Middle East understands that. Barack, the president of the United States of America is not subservient to anyone.

That bow was inappropriate and demeaning to your office and to all Americans. You should be ashamed, at the very least, embarrassed.

Another issue: While speaking in France , you said America has "shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive" toward Europe .

There you go again – groveling and apologizing for your country. Is it your genes, your religion or were you brought up that way?

Is demeaning your country a way to gain respect?

Then, there was the visit with Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip. There are guidelines to how to act and what to say, and they do not include hugs.

I realize that's part of the touchy-feely mentality of the day, Michelle, but really. You do not touch the queen; she's not your neighbor.

I know we're told she put her arm around your back, but she did it after you made the first move. She did it because the woman has manners and didn't want to embarrass you.

Or perhaps, like your husband, you don't know how to be embarrassed.

Oh, and when you pose for pictures with the queen, you should know that Prince Philip stands next to her. It was really unseemly for you to push your way next to her and force him off to the side. You should have stood next to Barack, allowing Philip to stand next to his wife.

You got a lot of attention for your wardrobe but really, J. Crew casual for a state visit? I like their clothes but a skirt, (wrinkled at that) a top and sweater are inappropriate. Your incessant choice of sleeveless dresses is tiresome; I am tired of armpits and muscles.

Another not so minor point: The American economy is hurting. As the American first couple, you should support American designers and manufacturers for your public wardrobes; you intentionally avoid them.

That's a big mistake – for your role as first lady and someone who wants to look her best.

Speaking of that: Please remember the ever-present cameras. Did you see that picture of you sitting on a couch talking to French First Lady Carla Bruni Sarkozy?

She sits like a lady and you, with a short, tight skirt and oddly crossed legs, look like it's a coffee klatch. It's very unflattering and careless. You don't get a pass for that.

Then consider treatment of guests and gifts.

First, Tony Blair's gift to the White House of a bust of Churchill was summarily returned to the British embassy. Obama didn't want it so he returned the gift?!?!?

Michelle, please talk to him.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was given short shrift during his U.S. visit, and his "presidential gift" was a set of videos of movies. Unfortunately, the format was incompatible for British VCRs!

As for the gift to the queen? An i-Pod loaded with show tunes, videos of her prior D.C. visit and Obama's speeches.

P.S., she already had one.

To cover that fiasco, CBS reported the queen requested that gift.

Does anyone believe that?

It seems "first couple" Barack and Michelle are having some rough patches in their new jobs.

The title of president sounds nice. It conjures images of the leader of the most powerful nation on the planet, who is accomplished, collected, smart, couth and savvy.

Well, no. The president of the United States and his wife are navigating through some difficult shoals in their forays with international leaders, and they've stepped in it big time to the everlasting embarrassment of this country.

We deserve better.

What do they teach at Ivy League schools? Clearly, nothing about manners, decorum, protocol or tradition.

And apparently, the White House department that's supposed to review such issues with the first couple – doesn't know what it's doing either. Word has it the new administration didn't know there's a State Department protocol office!

But then, when you think you know everything, why ask for advice?

Lest you think it's just me criticizing the Obamas, a British blogger came up with this description of them: "Classless. Thoughtless. Clueless."

I couldn't agree more. Wish I'd said it first.

=======================
thanks
Jerry

The Fallacy of Online Poker Gambling
By: Major Bet

Online poker gambling is fast and rapidly becoming the most famous gambling games at every available gambling sites on the internet. This fame that is currently being enjoyed by online poker gambling is possibly due to the enticement of poker players to play online and make easy money.

Online poker gambling is a game of skill and many people believe that they have the right set of skills in poker games to win the pot with less effort. Most people, however, believe that this is just the fallacy of online poker gambling.

A skillful play will never really aid gamblers and players of poker to win easy money at an online poker room. Why? Because winning money at an online poker room is beyond the reach of the gamblers or players of the poker game whatever is their skill level.

-- What They Say About Online Poker Gambling

The fallacy of online poker gambling has always been a debate immediately after it's sudden momentum in popularity. People say that the fallacy of online poker gambling can be seen in a way that poker websites offering poker games are allowing gamblers and players to lose their money much slower that they would not be able to notice their loss of money.

The skillful play that the top gamblers in the world are so proud of do not stand a chance against an online poker virtual gambler. This is one of the heated debates on the fallacy of online poker gambling.

It is said that in an online poker room, players and gamblers can temporarily win in one or more poker games but this is just the short run. In the long run, though, the gambling company that operates the poker gambling website is already devising a scheme. It will eventually aim to finally win all the money that the gamblers and players have recently pocketed as their winnings.

This fallacy of online poker gambling is not that noticeable because the poker game is a fast played game. The short-run in poker games will immediately become the long-run when a player or gambler plays enough card hands.

Every card hand that is played whether a player or gambler is losing or winning any particular card hand will slowly further the disintegration of the bankroll of every gambler or player. This is the fallacy of online poker gambling.

There is never anything that a gambler or a player can do or think about to save and redeem the money that was stolen from them. If one is to beat the fallacy of online poker gambling, one must stop playing online poker gambling.

-- The Fallacy Of Online Poker Gambling From Top Players

The most outstanding poker players in every part of the world do not play or try to play poker at poker gambling websites. Several top poker players, however, do endorsements for some poker websites, and this is because they are being paid for it.

Another reason for the realization of the fallacy of online poker gambling is that these top players believe that they can beat anyone on the game of poker. What they are confused about is that they cannot beat the house of an online poker gambling room.

These top players are witnesses to the fallacy of online poker gambling and are included in those people who clamor that nobody, not even the greatest poker player himself can make money while playing in an online poker gambling room.

Even the world’s champions from the World Series of Poker tournaments can never be skilled enough or good enough to overcome the house cut or rake from every money pot.

-- Conclusion On The Fallacy Of Online Poker Gambling

To further the debate on the fallacy of online poker gambling, ask anyone about the fallacy of online poker gambling and one will easily pinpoint a question of doubt.

People ask the question on how will human players be sure that their opponent is a human and not another online poker software visual. People have long noticed the fallacy of online poker gambling since a player or gambler could easily doubt the existence of human players online. The rest of the opponent could be simulations of the online poker software that are programmed to take away all your money.

Players or gamblers will be easily deceived and be initially laid out in a trap wherein they will win in the short-run but eventually will lose all their money in the long-run.

Article Source: http://www.hobbyarticledirectory.com

Major Bet publishes tips and tutorials about sports betting and football betting regularly.


Thanks,
In His Service
Jerry Lemieux
An Incredible Opportunity
http://theplanx.com
One Shop Stop
http://www.mywebcashstore.com/lemieux0435

This Article Below, Hits Home to me, since i am a type 2 Diabetic. I need to watch my diet to kep myHemoglobin A1C in check. I am lucky and blessed to have my Work insurance lower the costs for my medicines with reasonable Co-pays.

By LINDA A. JOHNSON, AP Business Writer Linda A. Johnson, Ap Business Writer

Diabetics are increasingly risking life and limb by cutting back on — or even going without — doctor visits, insulin, medicines and blood-sugar testing as they lose income and health insurance in the recession, an Associated Press analysis has found.

Doctors have seen a drop in regular appointments with diabetic patients, if they come back at all. Patients more often seek tax-subsidized or charity care. And they end up in emergency rooms more often, patients and physicians said in interviews.

Sales of top-selling drugs and other products used to treat and monitor the disease have dropped since the economic crisis accelerated last fall, the AP analysis found. There are even signs that some patients are choosing less-expensive insulin injections over pricier pills to save money.

Meanwhile, the number of people with the disease keeps growing — another 1.6 million Americans were diagnosed in 2007 alone.

People with other health problems also are cutting back on care amid the recession, but diabetics who don't closely monitor and control the chronic disease risk particularly dire complications: amputations, vision loss, stroke — even death.

Patients' frugality comes at a tremendous cost to the already-strained health care system. The typical monthly bill to treat diabetes runs $350 to $900 for those without insurance, a price tag that's risen as newer, more expensive medicines have hit the market. Emergency care and a short hospitalization can easily top $10,000, and long-term complications can cost far more.

M. Eileen Collins, 48, of Indianapolis, tried to scrimp on her medication last fall after her husband lost his job and with it their insurance. Without money for insulin, test supplies and other medicines, she asked for free samples and also got a few drugs through $4-a-month generic programs. But she stopped taking most of her drugs and cut her insulin doses in half to stretch her budget.

"I truly did not think I was putting my life in danger," Collins said. "I thought if I was just real careful with what I ate ... I'd be all right."

By Thanksgiving eve, Collins was vomiting blood and rushed to a hospital. Doctors diagnosed her as malnourished, anemic and in diabetic ketoacidosis, a life-threatening condition caused by lack of insulin and sky-high blood sugar. She spent a week in the hospital.

Her story is hardly unique.

Dr. Steven Edelman, a University of California, San Diego endocrinologist who runs a free clinic staffed by medical students, has seen a 30 percent surge the past six months in patients seeking free diabetes medicines and supplies, which the clinic has to ration. Many had been solidly middle class, but the recession took their jobs, insurance and even some homes.

"A third to a half of these people haven't been taking their meds at all," said Edelman, who also founded the advocacy group Taking Control of Your Diabetes.

Diabetes occurs when the body doesn't make enough insulin or doesn't efficiently use the hormone, which helps turn sugar from food into energy. The disease can be kept under control by monitoring blood sugar as well as exercising, improved diet, medications, testing and regular checkups.

Uncontrolled diabetes can cause fatigue, blurry vision, excessive urination, gum problems, infections and wounds that don't heal. Damage to the kidneys, liver, heart and eyes follow. Often, much of that damage isn't apparent until a stroke or heart attack strikes.

Sales of diabetes testing supplies and drugs indicate how many Americans have moved beyond scrimping and are cutting vital expenses. Several doctors said they began noticing a shift in August or September, when the financial markets melted down and layoffs accelerated.

Sales have dipped for pricey brand-name diabetes pills, blood glucose monitors and even test strips, based on industry sales figures and interviews with the top two makers of testing supplies. The strips generally cost $1 or more each; patients using insulin are supposed to test at least two to four times a day to be sure their blood sugar is in a safe range.

Most diabetics typically can control the disease for a few years with diet, exercise and pills available as cheap generics. But eventually, those pills stop working well, and patients switch to more advanced — and more expensive — medicines.

Sales of the most widely used pill, $4-a-month metformin, are up 7 percent since June, according to the AP analysis of figures from health data firm IMS Health Inc. Brand-name versions of the same drug, costing 10 times as much, are down 9 percent, on average, since then.

By February, sales for nearly every other category of diabetes pills and insulins were down from a year earlier, most by double digits, IMS figures show. The only exceptions were a heavily promoted new type of diabetes pill, Januvia, and advanced insulins that tightly control blood sugar levels.

The sales declines come even as the number of diabetes cases grows, fueled by the rise in obesity. According to the American Diabetes Association, more than 24 million Americans have diabetes.

Even as sales of expensive pills have fallen, sales of advanced insulin injections are up 9 percent since summer. That could mean some patients would rather face a needle to save money, according to Brian Lasky, a research analyst at IMS Health.

"By December, people were making decisions in terms of, 'Do I fill this prescription or ... buy Christmas presents for my kids?'" Lasky added.

Johnson & Johnson, a maker of top-selling OneTouch blood sugar meters, testing strips and insulin pumps, reported a 2 percent fourth-quarter drop in U.S. sales for the category compared with the same period a year earlier, a large drop considering quarterly sales up to then had been rising at around 10 percent.

"We're seeing some signs that consumers and patients are becoming more frugal," J&J Chief Executive Bill Weldon told analysts in January.

Getting patients to stick to their treatment has long been tough. But rising unemployment has made things worse.

At a family clinic in impoverished Newark, N.J., so many patients simply stopped showing up after losing health insurance that doctors posted notices asking clients with financial troubles to speak up so staff can try to help.

"Sometimes you don't see (diabetes) patients for several months," said Dr. Cynthia Paige, medical director of the New Jersey Family Practice Center. They "don't understand what a nightmare uncontrolled diabetes is and how it's ravaging your body," she said.

April Bumpus, 31, of Woodstock, Ga., was laid off from her job in medical sales last spring while recovering from surgery, and her health insurance was canceled. By September, she had to switch from two advanced insulins that tightly controlled her blood sugar to cheaper, older ones that cause surges and drops. The advanced insulin would have cost $360 a month, the older insulin only $100.

"It makes you really feel like you have the flu" at least once a week, said Bumpus, who's more worried about the long-term consequences. "That does scare me. I can have a heart attack, I can have a stroke, I can go blind."

Emergency rooms increasingly are treating diabetics who haven't been taking medicines, according to doctors at several hospitals nationwide and the professional group for ER doctors. Many of the patients have blood sugar so high they are hospitalized for days. Free clinics also are getting a surge of diabetes patients desperate for help.

"There's an increase in just overall consequences of diabetes: losing a foot, losing a kidney, bad eyesight. At least six people come to mind over the last six months ... most because of the recession," said Dr. Nicholas Vasquez, who works in one of the country's biggest ERs, at St. Joseph's Hospital in Phoenix.

Vasquez and his colleagues view the desperate patients in their ER as harbingers of what's to come if the recession deepens.

"What we're seeing mostly is the first steps of people not taking care of their diabetes and starting to have consequences," he said.

Thanks for reading this very informative article. If you want to see more of these articles orany article please follow and comment his blog
thanks
Jerry Lemieux

This Information came from the ACBL Bulletin for April

IMPORTANT NOTICE TO ALL NON-LIFE MASTERS

Effective January 1, 2010 the requirements for attaining Life Master status will change.

The new requirements will not apply to ACBL members in good standing whose dues are current as of December 31, 2009,

and who maintain continuous membership in the ACBL until they become Life Masters. What are the new requirements? Read More...

As of January 1, 2010, the requirements for attaining Life Master status will change to 500 total masterpoints, of which, 50 must be gold or platinum, 50 red, gold or platinum, 75 silver and 75 black.

What does this mean to you?

If you are not a Life Master and your ACBL membership is not active as of December 31, 2009, you will be required to fulfill the new Life Master requirements.

It also means that if you let your ACBL membership lapse after January 1, 2010, before you become a Life Master, the new requirements will apply to you.

So, if you are not currently an ACBL member – now would be an excellent time to join! Click

here to join as a new member

or click here to re-new your membership.

You Could Be Part of ACBL History

The 7th edition of the Official Encyclopedia of Bridge is in the works and is scheduled for publication in late 2011 to coincide with the 75th anniversary

of the founding of the ACBL.

The biographies section of the encyclopedia will be different from past editions, emphasizing personal information (interesting hobbies,

accomplishments outside of bridge, etc. ) as much as trophies and masterpoint holdings.

Perhaps you have hiked the Appalachian Trail, visited all seven continents or once played professional table tennis.

These are the kinds of personal items that will make the bio section more readable.

We haven't decided yet on the ultimate criteria for inclusion in the biographies section,

but with your help the next edition will be the best ever published.

Click here to fill out a questionnaire. Be sure to include a working email address in case the editors have questions
thanks
Jerry Lemieux