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The bidding ends with a contract, which is a declaration by one partnership that their side will take at least a stated number of tricks, with a specified suit as trump or without trumps. The rules of play are similar to other trick-taking games, with addition of the feature that one player's hand is displayed face up on the table as the "dummy".
Bridge can be played in tournaments, where more than two tables play the same deals of cards and the results are compared; this form is called duplicate bridge. Competitions in duplicate bridge range from small clubs with only a few tables, to the World Championships and Olympiads where often hundreds of tables play the same hands.
Two partnerships of two players each are needed to play bridge. The four players sit around a table with partners opposite one another. The compass directions are often used to refer to the four players, aligned with their seating pattern. Thus, South and North form one partnership and East and West form the other.
A session of bridge consists of several deals (also called hands or boards). A hand is dealt, the bidding (or auction) proceeds to a conclusion and then the hand is played. Finally, the hand's result is scored.
The goal of a single deal is to achieve the highest score with given cards. The score is affected by two principal factors: the number of tricks bid in the auction, and the number of tricks taken during play. The concept of contract, which distinguishes contract bridge from its predecessors, refers to a statement by one partnership that they shall take at least a certain number of tricks, with a given suit as trumps, or without trumps. The contract consists of two components: level and strain (also called denomination). Level represents the number of tricks to be taken above the first six (referred to as the book) — this treatment (and the requirement that the lowest possible level is one) ensures that at least a majority of the tricks must be taken by the partnership that wins the contract. Since there are 13 possible tricks, there are seven levels, numbered 1-7, corresponding to 7-13 tricks to take. Five strains are ranked, from lowest to highest, as clubs diamonds hearts spades and no trump (NT). The two lower-ranked strains (and ) are called the minor suits (or minors), and the higher-ranked strains (and ) are called majors.
For instance, the contract "3 hearts" is an assertion that the partnership will take nine tricks (book plus three) with hearts as the trump suit. Thus, there are 7 × 5 = 35 possible basic contracts; 1 being the lowest, followed by 1 etc., up to 7NT.
In the bidding stage or auction, the pairs compete to determine who proposes the highest-ranked contract, and the side that wins the bidding must then strive to fulfil that bargain by winning at least the contracted number of tricks in play if it is to obtain a score. Broadly speaking, there is an incentive to bid accurately to the optimum contract and then to play to make the contracted number of tricks (or more if good play or luck allows). If the side that wins the auction (declaring side) then takes the contracted number of tricks (or more), it is said to have made the contract and is awarded a score; otherwise, the contract is said to be defeated or set and points are awarded to the opponents (defenders).
In finding an optimum contract, it can sometimes pay to bid slightly too high with the expectation of losing points, rather than allow the opposing side to bid and make a larger score. This is known as a sacrifice, and is quite common if both sides are contesting the final contract. This aspect is more common in some forms of duplicate bridge (which is played in competitions and many clubs) in which the goal is to get a better score than any other partnership facing the same hands, by however small a margin and in whatever way possible.
The game is played with a standard deck of 52 cards. On each deal, one player, the dealer, distributes the cards and also bids first. The dealer changes on each deal, usually proceeding clockwise around the table.
In rubber bridge (or other non-duplicate games), the cards are shuffled before each deal, and the dealer distributes all the cards clockwise one at a time, starting with the left-hand opponent and ending with the dealer, so each player receives a hand of thirteen cards. At the same time, for convenience, the dealer's partner usually shuffles a second deck, to be ready for use on the following deal. The dealer's left-hand opponent deals next. Each deal in rubber bridge is therefore meant to be random and unrelated to other hands played, and to a large extent the score depends on the cards as well as the skill of play.
In duplicate bridge the hands are shuffled only once, at the beginning of the session, and dealt into four hands of 13 cards. In contrast to rubber bridge, however, each deal is preserved for the entirety of the tournament session rather than being reshuffled. In this way, each time it is played, the results for different players will be comparable and the element of chance due to some players having better cards is largely eliminated. Cards in duplicate are passed from table to table in bridge boards, plastic or metal containers that clearly mark the hands and identify which compass direction holds which cards. The board usually also contains a folded slip of paper on which to record each pair's scores after the deal is played; the director calculates the scores from this slip, called the traveler, at the end of the tournament session. Alternatively, scores may be written on a pickup slip which is collected by a caddy and submitted to the director for recording after each round of play. More recently, wireless electronic scoring is becoming more common. This does away with paper score slips entirely. Instead, a purpose-made keypad is provided on each table. Players use these to enter scores which are then transmitted to the scoring computer.
In some competitions, boards are pre-dealt prior to the competition, especially if the same hands are to be played at many locations (for example in a large national or international tournament). There are also special machines for pre-dealing at large tournaments. As the boards arrive for play at each subsequent table, the four players take their cards from the board and should count them to ensure that there are 13 cards in their hand; the auction and play then begin.
Unlike rubber bridge and most other trick-taking games, in duplicate games players do not throw their cards to the center of the table during the play; instead, played cards are placed immediately in front of each player and turned face down after each trick has been completed. This allows each player to return his hand, intact, to the board after play is finished, so that subsequent tables can play the same deal unaltered. It also allows that in case of a review of the play, as may be necessitated by an irregularity or dispute, it is clear exactly who played which cards and the order in which they were played.
The auction determines the declaring side and the final contract. Only one of the partners of the declaring side, referred to as declarer, plays the hand, while the other becomes the dummy (i.e. doing nothing). In addition to establishing strain and level, the final contract may be doubled (by the opponents) or redoubled (by the declaring side after the opponents had already doubled), in which case the scoring of the hand is increased, whether the contract is made or defeated.
During the auction, each player makes a call in turn, which must be one of the following:
(Note: although technically incorrect, the word "bid" is also often used informally in place of "call")
The auction starts with the dealer and proceeds clockwise with each player, having first evaluated their hand, making a call in order. The auction ends when three successive passes occur at some point after the dealer's first call. If all four players pass in the first round, the deal is not played (in rubber bridge the deal is not scored and the hand is redealt by the original dealer, while in duplicate the score is recorded as zero for each pair since re-dealing a hand that has been 'passed out' is prohibited by the rules).
A bid specifies a level and denomination, and ostensibly denotes a willingness to play the corresponding contract. A player wishing to bid must make a bid that is sufficient; a bid is sufficient if it specifies any denomination on a higher level than the last bid, or a higher-ranked denomination on the same level. Thus, after a bid of 3, bids of 2 or 3 are not allowable, but 3 or 4 are.
A double can be made only after the opponents have made a bid. At its simplest, this states that the player is confident that the opponents cannot make their bid during play and the player is willing to risk doubling their score if they do and the penalty if they do not. However, in modern bridge, the double is more often used in a conventional sense, to ask partner to bid or to pass information to partner. A "redouble" can be made only after an opponent's double; it increases the points scored and the penalty for failure yet further. In practice, the double and redouble are often used systemically for other purposes, though if they are in effect for the final contract they increase the score regardless of their intended meaning. Double and redouble remain in effect only until the next bid — any subsequent bid invalidates them.
Once the auction ends, the last bid (together with any double or redouble that followed it) becomes the contract, and the level of this bid determines the number of tricks required to fulfil the contract and its strain determines what suit, if any, will be trumps.
It should be noted that the primary purpose of early bids is to exchange information rather than to determine the final contract. As most players play, most calls (bids, doubles and redoubles, and sometimes even passes) are not made with the intention that they become the final contract, but to describe the player's hand strength and distribution, so that the partnership can make an educated guess which contract would be the optimal one. The set of agreements used by a partnership about the meanings of each call is referred to as a bidding system, full details of which must be made available to the opponents; 'secret' systems are not allowed.
The pair that did not win the contract is called the defence. The pair that made the last bid is divided further: the player who first made a bid in the denomination of the final contract becomes the declarer and his partner becomes the dummy. For example, suppose West is the dealer and the bidding was:
Then East and West would be the defenders, South would be the declarer (being the first to bid spades), North would be the dummy, and spades the trump suit; 10 tricks would be required by declarer (and dummy). Since East's double was invalidated by the subsequent South's 3 bid, it does not affect the contract. For the purpose of determining the declarer, bids in the denomination of the final contract by the defence are ignored.
Bidding boxes, which allow the calls to be placed using cards rather than announced orally, are often used to prevent players at nearby tables overhearing the bidding and to avoid voice inflexions passing information to a partner.
The play consists of thirteen tricks, each trick consisting of one card played from each of the four hands. Aces are high in bridge, followed by kings, queens, jacks, 10s, 9s ... down to 2s, the lowest card in each suit. The first card played in a trick is called the lead; after the lead play proceeds clockwise around the table. Any card may be selected from a hand as the lead, but the remaining hands must follow suit, meaning they must play a card of the same suit as the lead, unless the hand in question has no more cards of that suit, in which case any card may be played. The hand that plays the highest card in the suit of the lead wins the trick, unless any of the played cards are of the trump suit, in which case the hand that plays the highest trump card wins the trick. The hand that wins the trick plays the lead card of the next trick, until all the cards have been played.
The first lead, called the opening lead, is made by the defender to the left of the declarer. After the opening lead is played, the dummy lays his/her hand face up on the table in four columns, one for each suit, with the column of the trump suit (if there is one) on the right as dummy looks at the table. The declarer is responsible for selecting cards to play from the dummy's hand and from his own hand in turn. The defenders each choose the cards to play from their own hands. Dummy is allowed to prevent declarer from infringing the rules but otherwise must not interfere with the play; for example, dummy may attempt to prevent declarer from leading from the wrong hand (by stating, e.g., "you won the last trick in dummy") but must not comment on opponents' actions or make suggestions as to play. In casual bridge games the dummy often does nothing, but in duplicate bridge dummy must play cards from the dummy hand at declarer's instruction (e.g., by stating "jack of hearts please, partner", or less frequently by touching or pointing at the jack of hearts).
The contract level sets a specific target: in the example above, the declarer must attempt to win ten tricks (the assumed "book" of six, plus four as bid, with spades as trumps), to make the contract and get a positive score. Success in this goal is rewarded by points in the scoring phase for the declarer's side. If the declarer fails to make the contract, the defenders are said to have set or defeated the contract (declarer has gone down), and are awarded points for doing so.
The goal for each pair is to make as high a score as possible. However, if the contract is made, its level is the primary factor affecting the scoring, rather than the number of tricks taken in play: for example, if the declarer takes all 13 tricks without trumps, there is a huge score difference between the cases of contract being 1NT and 7NT. The premium for contracting to take more tricks ensures competitiveness in the auction: even if a partnership holds a majority of the high cards and the opponents have no interest in bidding, they are still encouraged to bid high in order to achieve the best possible score, which in turn often results in contracts that are difficult to make.
When the declarer makes the contract, the declarer's side receives points for:
When the declarer fails to make the contract, the defending pair receives points for undertricks — the number of tricks by which declarer fell short of the goal.
Because of the structure of bonuses, certain bid levels have special significance. The most important level is game, which is any contract whose bid trick value is 100 or more points. Game level varies by suit, since different suits are worth different amounts in scoring. The game level for notrump is 3 (9 tricks), the game level for hearts or spades (major suits) is 4 (10 tricks), and the game level for clubs or diamonds (minor suits) is 5 (11 tricks). Because of the attractiveness of the game bonus, much of the bidding revolves around investigating a possibility to bid a makeable game. High bonuses are also awarded for bidding and making small slam (level 6) and grand slam (level 7, i.e., all the tricks). The contracts below game level are called partial contracts or partscores.
The concept of vulnerability affects scoring and introduces a wider range of tactics in bidding and play. Every partnership is beforehand assigned one of two states: vulnerable or non-vulnerable. When a pair is vulnerable, game and slam bonuses are higher, as are penalties for failure to make the contract. Methods for assigning vulnerability differ for duplicate and rubber bridge.
There are two important variations in bridge scoring: rubber scoring and duplicate/Chicago scoring. They share most features, but differ in how the total score is accumulated. In rubber bridge, the declaring partnership counts points for successfully taken contracted tricks "below the line" on a scoresheet (which can be accumulated to make a game), while penalties and bonuses are tallied "above the line". The first partnership to accumulate two games gets a "rubber" bonus. In duplicate bridge, all the points are accumulated for each hand by itself and present a single score, expressed as a positive number (sum of trick points and bonus points) to the winning pair, and by implication, as a negative number to the opponents. (A third form, "Chicago" bridge, is a 'friendly' game that uses duplicate scoring, with every deal scored as a single number, but usually with only one table (i.e., not duplicated elsewhere) and with vulnerability assigned in a very simple fashion.) Bonuses are given for hands which made game immediately and not accumulated between hands.
In duplicate bridge, the same hand is played unchanged across two or more tables and the results are compared. The resulting scores for each board are expressed in matchpoints or international match points (IMP). Regardless of the actual contract, the competitor (pair or team) with the best performance on each board gets the highest number of points for that board and vice versa. The competitor with the highest total number of points becomes the winner of the tournament. Thus, even with bad cards, a competitor can win the tournament if it has bid better and/or played better than the other players who played the same set of cards.
Matchpoint or (for teams) "Board-a-match" scoring simply awards a team or pair one matchpoint for every other pair that had any lower score playing the same hands on that board and half a matchpoint for every other pair that had exactly the same score.
IMPS convert differences in scores using a sliding scale. 0 IMPS are awarded for a 0-10 point difference.
These laws do not apply to rubber bridge, which has its own set of laws, the Laws of Contract Bridge, issued in 1993; the rules are broadly similar to those of duplicate bridge. In practice, simpler rules for dealing with irregularities than those set out in the lawbook are often applied by the players themselves or by house rules.
The oldest known Biritch, or Russian Whist dates from 1886 and documents many significant bridge-like developments from whist: dealer chose the trump suit, or nominated his partner to do so; there was a call of no trumps (biritch); dealer's partner's hand became dummy; points were scored above and below the line; game was 3NT, 4H and 5D (although 8 club odd tricks and 15 spade odd tricks were needed); the score could be doubled and redoubled; and there were slam bonuses. This game, and variants of it known as bridge and bridge-whist, became popular in the United States and the UK in the 1890s despite the long-established dominance of whist.
In 1904 auction bridge, (also known as royal auction bridge), was developed, in which the players bid in a competitive auction to decide the contract and declarer. The object became to make at least as many tricks as were contracted for and penalties were introduced for failing to do so.
The modern game of contract bridge was the result of innovations to the scoring of auction bridge made by Harold Stirling Vanderbilt and others. The most significant change was that only the tricks contracted for were scored below the line toward game or a slam bonus, a change that resulted in bidding becoming much more challenging and interesting. Also new was the concept of vulnerability, making sacrificing to protect the lead in a rubber more expensive, and the various scores were adjusted to produce a more balanced game. Vanderbilt set out his rules in 1925, and within a few years contract bridge had so supplanted other forms of the game that "bridge" became synonymous with "contract bridge."
In the USA and Australia, most of the bridge played today is duplicate bridge, which is played at clubs, in tournaments and online. In the UK, rubber bridge is still popular in both homes and clubs, as is duplicate bridge.
This form of the game is referred to as duplicate bridge and is played in clubs and tournaments, which can gather as many as several hundred players. Duplicate bridge is a mind sport, and its popularity gradually became comparable to that of chess, with which it is often compared for its complexity and the mental skills required for high-level competition. Bridge and chess are the only "mind sports" recognized by the International Olympic Committee, although they were not found eligible for the main Olympic program.
The basic premise of duplicate bridge had previously been used for whist matches as early as 1857. Initially, bridge was not thought to be suitable for duplicate competition; it wasn't until the 1920s that (auction) bridge tournaments became popular.
In 1925 when contract bridge first evolved, bridge tournaments were becoming popular, but the rules were somewhat in flux, and several different organizing bodies were involved in tournament sponsorship: the American Bridge League (formerly the American Auction Bridge League, which changed its name in 1929), the American Whist League, and the United States Bridge Federation. In 1935, the first officially recognized world championship was held. By 1937, however, the American Contract Bridge League had come to power (a union of the ABL and the USBF), and it remains the principal organizing body for bridge tournaments in North America. In 1958, the World Bridge Federation was founded, as bridge had become an international activity.
In tournaments, "bidding boxes" are frequently used. A bidding box is a box of cards, each bearing the name of one of the legal calls in bridge. A player wishing to make a call displays the appropriate card from the box, rather than making an oral declaration. This prevents unauthorized information (i.e., anything other than the call itself) from being conveyed via voice inflection. In top national and international events, "bidding screens" are used. These are diagonal screens that are placed across the table, preventing partners from seeing each other during the game; often the screen is removed after the auction is complete.
Much of the complexity in bridge arises from the difficulty of arriving at a good final contract in the auction. This is a difficult problem: the two players in a partnership must try to communicate sufficient information about their hands to arrive at a makeable contract, but the information they can exchange is restricted—information may be passed only by the calls made and later by the cards played, not by other means; in addition, the agreed-upon meaning of each call and play must be available to the opponents.
Since a partnership that has freedom to bid gradually at leisure can exchange more information, and since a partnership that can interfere with the opponents' bidding (as by raising the bidding level rapidly) can cause difficulties for their opponents, bidding systems are both informational and strategic. It is this mixture of information exchange and evaluation, deduction, and tactics that is at the heart of bidding in bridge.
A number of basic rules of thumb in bridge bidding and play are summarized as bridge maxims.
A bidding system is a set of partnership agreements on the meanings of bids. A partnership's bidding system is usually made up of a core system, modified and complemented by specific conventions (optional customizations incorporated into the main system for handling specific bidding situations) which are pre-chosen between the partners prior to play. The line between a well-known convention and a part of a system is not always clear-cut: some bidding systems include specified conventions by default. Bidding systems can be divided into mainly natural systems such as Acol and Standard American, and mainly artificial systems such as the Precision Club.
Calls are usually considered to be either natural or conventional (artificial). A natural bid is one in which the suit and level bid is essentially passing the information "I have this suit for you"; a natural double says in effect "I want to raise the stakes as I don't think the opponents can make their contract". By contrast, a conventional (artificial) call offers and/or asks for information by means of pre-agreed coded interpretations, in which some calls convey very specific information or requests that are not part of the natural meaning of the call. Thus in response to 4NT, a 'natural' bid of 5 would state a preference towards a diamond suit or a desire to play the contract in 5 diamonds, whereas if the partners have agreed to use the common Blackwood convention, a bid of 5 in the same situation would say nothing about the diamond suit, but tell the partner that the hand in question contains exactly one ace.
Conventions are valuable in bridge because of the need to pass information beyond a simple like or dislike of a particular suit, and because the limited bidding space can be used more efficiently by taking situations in which a given call will have less utility, because the information it would convey is not valuable or because the desire to convey that information would arise only rarely, and giving that call an artificial meaning that conveys more useful (or more frequently useful) information. There are a very large number of conventions from which players can choose; many books have been written detailing bidding conventions. Well-known conventions include Stayman (to ask for the showing of any 4 card major suit in a 1NT opener's hand), Jacoby transfers (a request by the weak hand for the stronger partner to bid the agreed suit first, and therefore to become the declarer), and the Blackwood convention (to ask for information on the number of aces and kings held, used in slam bidding situations).
The term preempt refers to a high level tactical bid by a weak hand, relying upon a long suit rather than high-value cards for tricks. Preemptive bids serve a double purpose — they allow players to indicate they are bidding on the basis of a long suit in an otherwise weak hand, which is important information to share, and they also consume substantial bidding room before a possibly strong opposing pair can identify whether they have a good possibility to play the hand, or in what suit or at what level they should do so. Several systems include the use of opening bids or other early bids with weak hands including long (usually six to eight card) suits at the 2, 3 or even 4 levels as preempts.
Most systems use a count of high card points as the basic evaluation of the strength of a hand, refining this by reference to shape and distribution if appropriate. In the most commonly used point count system, aces are counted as 4 points, kings as 3, queens as 2, and jacks as 1 point; therefore, the deck contains 40 points. In addition, the distribution of the cards in a hand into suits may also contribute to the strength of a hand and be counted as distribution points. A better than average hand, containing 12 or 13 points, is usually considered sufficient to open the bidding, i.e., to make the first bid in the auction. A combination of two such hands (i.e., 25 or 26 points shared between partners) is often sufficient for a partnership to bid, and generally to make, game in a major suit or notrump (more are usually be needed for a minor suit game, as the level is higher).
In natural systems, a 1NT opening bid usually reflects a hand that has a relatively balanced shape (usually between two and four (or less often five) cards in each suit) and a sharply limited number of high card points, usually somewhere between 12 and 18 — the most common ranges use a span of exactly three points, e.g., 12-14, 15-17 or 16-18).
Opening bids of 3 or higher are preemptive bids, i.e., bids made with weak hands that especially favor a particular suit, opened at a high level in order to define the hand's value quickly and to frustrate the opposition. For example, a hand of would be a candidate for an opening bid of 3, designed to make it difficult for the opposing team to bid and find their optimum contract even if they have the bulk of the points, as it is nearly valueless unless spades are trump, it contains good enough spades that the penalty for being set should not be higher than the value of an opponent game, and the high card weakness makes it more likely that the opponents have enough strength to make game themselves.
Openings at the 2 level are either unusually strong (2NT, natural, and 2, artificial) or preemptive, depending on the system. Unusually strong bids communicate an especially high number of points (normally 20 or more) or a high trick-taking potential (normally 8 or more).
Opening bids at the one level are made with hands containing 12–13 points or more and which are not suitable for one of the preceding bids. Using Standard American with 5-card majors, opening hearts or spades usually promises a 5-card suit. Partnerships who agree to play 5-card majors open a minor suit with 4-card majors and then bid their major suit at the next opportunity.
Doubles are sometimes given conventional meanings in otherwise mostly natural systems. A natural, or penalty double, is one used to try to gain extra points when the defenders are confident of setting (defeating) the contract. The most common example of a conventional double is the takeout double of a low-level suit bid, implying support for the unbid suits or the unbid major suits and asking partner to choose one of them.
Bidding systems depart from these basic ideas in varying degrees. Standard American, for instance, is a collection of conventions designed to bolster the accuracy and power of these basic ideas, while Precision Club is a highly conventional system that uses the 1 opening bid for all or almost all strong hands (but sets the threshold for "strong" rather lower than most other systems) and includes many other artificial calls to handle other situations. Many experts today use a system called 2/1 game forcing (pronounced two over one game forcing), which is similar to but more complicated than Standard American. In the UK, Acol is the most common system.
There are also a variety of advanced techniques used for hand evaluation. The most basic is the Milton Work point count, (the 4-3-2-1 system detailed above) but this is sometimes modified in various ways, or either augmented or replaced by other approaches such as losing trick count, honor point count, law of total tricks, or Zar Points.
Common conventions and variations within natural systems include:
Within play, it is also commonly agreed what systems of opening leads, signals and discards will be played:
Likewise, in some partnerships the bid of 2 in the sequence 1NT - 2 - 2 - 2 between partners (opponents passing throughout) explicitly shows five hearts but also confirms four cards in spades: the bidder must hold at least five hearts to make it worth looking for a heart fit after 2 denied a four card major, and with at least five hearts, a Stayman bid must have been justified by having exactly four spades, the other major (since Stayman (as used by this partnership) is not useful with anything except a four card major suit). Thus an astute partner can read much more than the surface meaning into the bidding.
The situations detailed here are extremely simple examples; much of advanced bidding is specific agreements related to very specific situations and subtle inferences regarding entire sequences of calls.
Terence Reese, a prolific author of bridge books, points out that there are only four ways of taking a trick by force, two of which are very easy:
Nearly all trick-taking techniques in bridge can be reduced to one of these four methods.
The optimum play of the cards can require much thought and experience, and is too complicated to describe in a short article. However, below are some of the common techniques.
After the opening lead, the most important technique is signaling. There are three types of signals: attitude signals, count signals, and suit preference signals. Among them, the attitude signals are most frequently used. As its name shows, signaling is to disclose one defender's card information to the other defender (and the declarer as well).
Since the defenders usually have access to less information, communication is more crucial in defense. As seen above, both opening lead and signals disclose valuable information to help communicate. Other techniques for better communication include unblocking, overtaking, ducking, etc.
Generally, it's more effective for a beginner to learn play as a declarer before play as a defender since techniques for defenders are related to the declarer techniques, which are easier to understand.
South is the declarer, having been first to bid hearts, and the player to South's left, West, has to choose the first card in the play, known as the opening lead. West chooses the spade king because spades is the suit the partnership has shown strength in, and because they have agreed that when they hold two touching honors (or adjacent honors) they will play the higher one first. West plays the card face down, to give their partner and the declarer (but not dummy) a chance to ask any last questions about the bidding or to object if they believe West is not the correct hand to lead. After that, North's cards are laid on the table and North becomes dummy, as both the North and South hands will be controlled by the declarer. West turns the lead card face up, and the declarer studies the two hands to make a plan for the play. The bottom line is, since the trump ace, a spade, and a diamond trick must be lost, a trick must not be lost in clubs.
Tactically, if the K is held by West, South will find it very hard to prevent it making a trick. However, there is an almost-equal chance that it is held by East, in which case it can be 'trapped' against the ace, and will be beaten, using a strategy known as a finesse.
After considering the cards, the declarer directs dummy (North) to play a small spade. East plays low (small card) and South takes the A, gaining the lead. South proceeds by drawing trump, leading the K. West decides there is no benefit to holding back, and winning with the ace, cashes the Q. For fear of a ruff and discard, West plays a diamond instead of another spade. Declarer ducks (plays low) from the table, and East scores the Q. Not having anything better to do, East returns the remaining trump, taken in South's hand. The trumps now accounted for, South can now execute the finesse, perhaps trapping the king as planned. South enters the dummy (i.e. wins in the dummy's hand) by leading a low diamond, using dummy's A to win the trick, and leads the Q from dummy to the next trick. East covers the queen with the king, and South takes the trick with the Ace, and proceeds by cashing the remaining master J. (If East doesn't play the king, then South will play a low club from South's hand and the queen will win anyway, this being the essence of the finesse). The game is now safe: South ruffs a small club with a dummy's trump, then ruffs a diamond in hand for an entry back, and ruffs the last club in dummy (sometimes described as a crossruff). Finally, South claims the remaining tricks by showing his or her hand, as it now contains only high trumps and there's no need to play the hand out to prove they are all winners.
(The trick-by-trick notation used above can be also expressed in tabular form, but a textual explanation is usually preferred in practice, for reader's convenience. Plays of small cards or discards are often omitted from such a description, unless they were important for the outcome).
North-South score the required 10 tricks, and their opponents take the remaining 3. The contract is fulfilled, and North enters +620 for the winning side (North-South are in charge of bookkeeping in duplicate tournaments) on the traveling sheet. All players return their own cards to the board, and the next deal is played.
Some national contract bridge organizations that now offer online bridge play to their members include the English Bridge Union, the Dutch Bridge Union and the Australian Bridge Federation. MSN and Yahoo! Games have several online rubber bridge rooms. In 2001, World Bridge Federation issued a special edition of the lawbook adapted for internet and other electronic forms of the game.
Differences relevant to online play include:
There are also a number of disadvantages:
Strong bridge playing programs such as Jack (World Champion computer bridge 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006) and Wbridge5 (World Champion computer bridge 2005 and 2007) would probably rank among the top few thousand human pairs worldwide. A series of articles published in 2005 and 2006 in the Dutch bridge magazine IMP describes matches between Jack and seven top Dutch pairs. A total of 196 boards were played. Overall, the program Jack lost, but by a small margin (359 versus 385 imps).
Influential players and theorists in the second half of the 20th century:
Modern world-top experts:
Notable people who play bridge:
Bridge players in fiction:


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In designing this program, our department faculty included a more critical theoretical foundation from which our students can make an honest analysis of the issues and ideologies confronting contemporary education, identify contradictions and points of concern, and construct transformative programs and practices in response. In doing so, students will reflect on their own experiences in order to identify and challenge the common assumptions underlying the dominant educational philosophies today. This unique approach seeks to close the gap between theory and practice and by integrating the ideals of freedom and critical democratic engagement into education. In short, we believe that real change is necessary and, furthermore, we believe that such change is always generated from the grassroots up - such change must begin with teachers.
What we will promise is a very meaningful, personal, and rewarding experience for educators who, in spite of these trying times, still hold to what drove them into teaching: to have a positive impact on their students and the world we all share with them. Our program envisions the preparation and inspiration of empowered educators - transformative intellectuals - who create and share knowledge and strategies to improve the quality of life for their students, schools, and communities.
Once again, I welcome you on behalf of our Department faculty and staff. I encourage you to communicate with us about your interest in our program. We are excited to meet with you and answer any questions you might have. I hope your browsing experience is informative and helpful.
With warmest regards,
John Elmore, Ph.D.
Associate Professor and Department Chairperson

subset: commoncrawl


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Welcome to the FEST-Swing Module
FEST-Swing is a Java library that provides a fluent interface for functional Swing GUI testing. This library provides an easy-to-use API that makes creation and maintenance of GUI tests easy.
Why do we need to test GUIs?
Testing GUIs can make the entire system safer and more robust. Any GUI, even one providing only the simplest capabilities, likely encloses some level of complexity. Any complexity in software must be tested because code without tests is a potential source of bugs. A well-tested application has a greater chance of success.
GUI testing is also essential during application maintenance. During this phase, code might be refactored frequently to improve design, and this code often encloses great portions of the user interface. Having a solid test suite that includes GUI code can give us confidence that we are not inadvertently introducing bugs.
Reference: Test-Driven GUI Development with TestNG and Abbot by Alex Ruiz and Yvonne Wang Price (IEEE Software May/June 2007 issue)
Feature Overview
- Simulation of user interaction with a GUI (e.g. mouse and keyboard input, drag 'n drop)
- Reliable GUI component lookup (by type, by name or custom search criteria)
- Support for all Swing components included in the JDK
- Compact and powerful API for creation and maintenance of functional GUI tests
- Supports Applet testing
- Ability to embed screenshots of failed GUI tests in HTML test reports
- Can be used with either TestNG or JUnit
- Supports testing violations of Swing's threading rules
- Experimental Groovy Builder support (coming soon!)
FEST-Swing requires Java SE 5.0 or later.
It can be downloaded here. For Maven 2 users, the project's repository can be found at http://fest.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/fest/m2/repository/ (groupId: fest, artifactId: fest-swing).
The following example shows a test verifying that an error message is displayed if the user forgets to enter her password when trying to log in an application:
Documentation [more]
Getting Started
How to install and begin using FEST-Swing.
Configuration, cell renderers and writers, Swing threading, etc.
Component Lookup
Looking up GUI components to test.
Launching and testing applications and applets.
Input Simulation
Input simulation using the mouse and keyboard, drag 'n drop actions, etc.
Running Tests
How to run GUI tests without disrupting your desktop, interrupting GUI tests, etc.
Troubleshooting GUI Test Failures
How to figure out what went wrong when GUI test fail.
Advanced Features
Component formatters, platform-specific behaviour, extending FEST-Swing, etc.


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Student Resources
You are part of the largest business school Alumni Network in the world. Connect now and leverage your asset to:
- Develop and apply your networking skills
- Build your network for future career opportunities
- Be an active participant in the Kelley story
- Learn from those who came before you
- Lead for those who will come after you
Join the Kelley Alumni Association LinkedIn group. Build relationships and stay engaged with the Kelley School.
Connect with a ALUMNI CAREER ADVISOR – these alumni welcome your questions about their career, company and community and are waiting to share their advice and expertise with you.
Contact an Alumni Leader or KSBAA Board Member. Build relationships through targeted, professional outreach to facilitate a network rich with insight and opportunity. They are waiting to hear from you. Like all relationships, you must give as well as take.
Request a Club Advisor. Looking for alumni expertise to assist your Club? We can help.
Attend Events. 90% of life is showing up. Current students are complimentary guests at events sponsored by the Kelley Alumni Association on-campus and around the world. Register through the Events box on this page.
Your Alumni Network is thriving! Students who leverage this asset wisely will gain insights and friendships that last a lifetime.
For questions about and assistance with the Kelley Alumni Network, contact the Office of Development and Alumni Relations: firstname.lastname@example.com or 812-855-6340.


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Committee to meet
The Onslow Civic Affairs Committee is scheduled to meet today.
The meeting begins at noon in the Johnson Boulevard Conference Room of Jacksonville City Hall, located at 815 New Bridge St. downtown.
May 9
Blood drive held
The American Red Cross has scheduled a blood drive from 2 to 7 p.m. May 9 at Community Christian Church located at 222 Richlands Loop Road in Richlands. All blood types are needed.
May 10
Poker ride set
There will be a benefit poker ride for all motorcycles, cars and trucks to benefit Gerrie Dillon held at noon May 10 at New River Harley Davidson, Wilmington Hwy. Registration for the event will be held from 8 to 10 a.m. and will cost $20 per entry and $5 per additional rider. Lunch will be served to all registered participants and prizes will be awarded.
Blood drive held
The American Red Cross has scheduled a blood drive from from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. May 10 at Pine Valley United Methodist Church located at 910 Pine Valley Road in Jacksonville. All blood types are needed.
May 11
Spamalot takes the stage
Catch a matinee performance of King Arthur's quest to find the Holy Grail — with a twist.
Monty Python's Spamalot will be performed at 2 p.m. May 11 at the New Bern Civic Theatre in New Bern. The musical features such oddities as a line of beautiful dancing girls, a flatulent Frenchmen,and killer rabbits. Tickets are $10 to $19. For information, call 252-633-0567.
May 12
Library celebrates children's book week
The Onslow County Public Library will celebrate the observance of the 95th annual National Children's Book Week "Celebrate the Arts" theme starting May 12. Join the libraries as they celebrate children's books and the joy of reading, art-based books, crafts, activities and fun all week long. For more information, call 910-455-7350 or visit onslowcountync.gov/library.
May 13
JCPC meets
There will be an Onslow County Juvenile Crime Prevention Council committee meeting at noon May 13 at the Onslow County Health Department auditorium. The health department is located at 612 College St. in Jacksonville. For more information, call 910-455-1202.
May 14
Small business seminar
The Jacksonville-Onslow Chamber of Commerce's Small Business Committee celebrates small business week with a free seminar "The Perfect Workday for Small Business Owners" from 9 a.m. to noon May 14 at CCCC's Melton Skills Center. The guest speaker will be Mike Collins; registration is required. For more information or to register, call 910-341-3141, ext. 251.


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Pentagon Solutions - May 15, 2013
Listen to the full show.
Jump to main content.
Wednesday - 5/15/2013, 5:31pm EDT
Listen to the full show.
On this week's edition of Pentagon Solutions, host Francis Rose looks at two different issues.
First up, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced yesterday that he was reducing the number of DoD furloughs to 11 days. The furloughs will begin July 8 and continue through the end of the fiscal year. Secretary Hagel made the announcement out a town hall meeting in Virginia. Francis aired Hagel's comments in full.
Also on the show, Francis aired portions of a Senate Appropriations hearing on the Army and Air Force's budget plans for fiscal 2014. Katherine Hammack, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Installations, Energy, and Environment; and Kathleen Ferguson, Acting Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Installations, Environment and Logistics, both testified. Listen to portions of their testimony above.


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Jake's Corner
5/30/14 Gwyneth Paltrow Takes Some Heat
Find me on Facebook: Jake Emily Poyet Webb
Friday, May 30, 2014
The picture of KIM KARDASHIAN and KANYE WEST sharing their first kiss as man and wife is the most liked photo in the history of Instagram. As of last night it had 1.94 million likes. Here's my question. WHY?
KENDALL JENNER has about 8 million Twitter followers . . . but "In Touch" magazine says 4.6 of them . . . more than HALF . . . are DUMMY ACCOUNTS. Apparently, Kendall, her sisters, and a lot of other celebrities for that matter, buy phony social media followers to pump up their numbers.
"Modern Family" star ERIC STONESTREET accused GENE SIMMONS and PAUL STANLEY of being jerks to his mom on a flight. Gene denies that they said anything inappropriate and refuses to apologize. Paul did apologize, even though he says it was just a, quote, "misunderstanding of joking."
JESSICA BIEL has always been known for her backside, but there's a new Twitter feed called @JessicaBielArms, which pays tribute to her very sexy, toned arms. When she found out about it, Jessica Tweeted, quote, "There's a twitter account called @JessicaBielArms. Should my ass be offended?"
GWYNETH PALTROW compared being bullied online to going to WAR. And JOHN MCCAIN'S wife CINDY went off on Twitter. She said, quote, "Gweneth Paltrow is a joke. Her life is like taking bullets for a soldier. What a joke! My 2 sons serving in the military should talk to her."
5/29/14 Casper Cheating on J-Lo?
Find me on Facebook: Jake Emily Poyet Webb
Thursday, May 29, 2014
"In Touch" magazine claims that SELENA GOMEZ is so fed up with all the garbage she went through with JUSTIN BIEBER that she's through with sex until she gets married. A so-called "source" says she had a "sudden spiritual awakening" and wants to become a "BORN-AGAIN VIRGIN." That unnamed source adds, quote, "She's swapped drinking and partying for all things Jesus." Meanwhile, Selena's grandfather reportedly confirmed to RadarOnline that she DOES have lupus. But he says, quote, "She's in treatment. She's getting along pretty good."
JUSTIN BIEBER may have hooked up with Victoria's Secret model ADRIANA LIMA at the Cannes Film Festival last Tuesday. A source says he hit her up pretty hard at a club, where they ended up dancing, flirting . . . and leaving together at 5:00 A.M. There are also rumors that he's messing around with 16-year-old KYLIE JENNER.
After ditching Kim Kardashian's wedding because he thought he was too fat to pose for pictures, ROB KARDASHIAN has hired celebrity trainer Gunnar Peterson to whip him into shape.
JENNIFER LOPEZ may be losing her boyfriend to someone who has something she can't give him. A TRANSSEXUAL MODEL claims he/she has been having an affair with CASPER SMART. His/Her name is Sofie Vissa, and he/she claims to have NAKED PICTURES of Casper to prove it. The word is that they met online earlier this month and started exchanging naughty photos . . . then things got PHYSICAL. No word yet from Casper or J-Lo.
"Us Weekly" says HAYDEN PANETTIERE and fiancé WLADIMIR KLITSCHKO are expecting a baby. There's no official word yet. Hayden and Wladimir have dated on and off since 2009, and got engaged last March.
Poet and author MAYA ANGELOU passed away yesterday morning. She was 86. There's no word on a cause of death . . . but a few days ago, she canceled an appearance where she was going to be honored, because she was recovering from a, quote, "unexpected medical emergency."
"Forbes" has released its annual list of the "World's 100 Most Powerful Women." Oprah is the highest-ranking celebrity on the list, at #14. Others include Beyoncé, Angelina Jolie, Sofia Vergara and Ellen DeGeneres.
5/28/14 Bookie Odds for Kimye
Find me on Facebook: Jake Emily Poyet Webb
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
KIM KARDASHIAN is no stranger to short marriages. But the odds that she and KANYE WEST will make it are pretty good. At least until the end of next year. "Entertainment Weekly" asked a bookie for the odds that Kim and Kanye will still be together by December 31st, 2015. He gave them 5 to 1 odds they'd stay together . . . and only 1 to 10 odds they'd split up. But he only gave BEYONCÉ and JAY Z 3 to 2 odds. Probably because of Jay's recent elevator fight with her sister.
GEORGE CLOONEY and Amal Alamuddin will reportedly get married at Highclere Castle, the setting for the TV show "Downton Abbey". Sources say Amal is a huge fan of the show, and George arranged a private tour for them. After seeing how much she loved the place, he booked it for the wedding. A wedding there costs upwards of $24,000.
The lady who sat next to EMMA WATSON when she graduated from Brown University in Rhode Island this past weekend looked a little older than the other grads. And that's because she wasn't a graduate at all. She was Emma's SECURITY GUARD . . . but she was INCOGNITO in her very own cap and gown. After the ceremony, the woman took off her disguise, and revealed her UTILITY BELT, which was equipped with a badge, a walkie talkie, mace and some other holsters. It's not clear if she was PACKING HEAT.
BILL MURRAY crashed a bachelor party at a steakhouse in South Carolina over the weekend. And he gave this advice on how to find out if you're with the right person: "Take that person and travel around the world . . . And if when you come back to JFK, when you land in JFK, and you're still in love with that person, get married at the airport."
5/27/14 Bieber Gives to Charity
Find me on Facebook: Jake Emily Poyet Webb
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Kim Kardashian's brother ROB KARDASHIAN arrived in Paris last week with the rest of his family, but he skipped the rehearsal dinner Friday night, then got on a plane for L.A. before the wedding even started on Saturday. Sources say it's because he's ashamed of his WEIGHT and didn't want to be in any family photos. Apparently, everyone was trying to talk him down off that ledge and he got defensive to the point that he decided to take off. But that may be the OPPOSITE of what happened. Another source says that Rob left because Kim was mad at him for not trying hard enough to lose weight before her wedding.
PATRICK SWAYZE'S widow LISA NIEMI got remarried on Sunday in Palm Beach, Florida. Her new husband is a jeweler named Albert DePrisco. He's 58, Lisa is 57. They met through mutual friends and dated for more than a year before getting engaged this past December. Lisa was married to Patrick for 34 years, before he died of pancreatic cancer in 2009.
JIM CARREY gave the commencement speech at a college in Ohio over the weekend. He told the kids, quote, "What we really want seems impossibly out of reach and ridiculous to expect so we never ask the universe for it. I'm saying I'm the proof that you can ask the universe for it. And if it doesn't happen for you right away, it's only because the universe is so busy fulfilling my order."
JUSTIN BIEBER donated $545,000 at a charity event Saturday night that was raising money for AIDS research. He also took a picture where it looked like he was grabbing HEIDI KLUM'S boob. But Heidi said, quote, "He was totally not touching me . . . He's very polite and very nice."
5/23/14 Sheen Twitter Attack
Find me on Facebook: Jake Emily Poyet Webb
Friday, May 23, 2014
"Maxim" has released their complete Hot 100, and this year, the top spot went to South African model Candice Swanepoel. The rest of the top five is: Scarlett Johansson, Katy Perry, Irina Shayk and Jennifer Lawrence.
KIM KARDASHIAN'S aunt Karen Houghton could be in Paris this weekend watching Kim get hitched to KANYE WEST, but she decided to skip it for two reasons . . . First, there are wildfires in Southern California that are threatening her neighborhood . . . plus she's already seen Kim get married TWICE before.
CHARLIE SHEEN has started a feud with RIHANNA after she refused to meet his fiancée, while they were both at the same restaurant on Wednesday. Charlie called her "the Village Idiot" in a long Twitter rant . . . Rihanna dismissed him as an "old queen" . . . and Charlie kept it going by thanking her for recognizing his "royalty."
A 29-year-old Romanian man tried to break into GEORGE CLOONEY'S villa in Lake Como, Italy. He didn't get in, but he did find a bottle of wine in a "small alcove" in the garden. Unfortunately, one of George's employees saw the man and called police. The guy tried to attack the cops with the bottle, but they took him down and hauled him in.


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SEATTLE, Aug. 31, 2006 -- Fortunately, a cerebral aneurysm diagnosis is no longer the death sentence many people may have previously associated with the condition. That myth has been overcome thanks to better diagnostic tests and now-proven advancements with the two treatment options: 'clipping' and its more minimally invasive counterpart, 'coiling.'
However, since there are no known ways to prevent a cerebral aneurysm from forming, and since an un-ruptured aneurysm may go unnoticed throughout a person's lifetime or worse yet – a burst aneurysm may cause paralysis or even death – awareness remains key.
David Newell, M.D., co-director and medical director of the Seattle Neuroscience Institute at Swedish Medical Center was one of three co-authors for this article. To read it from the New England Journal of Medicine Web site, click here.


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A few weeks ago, I launched a competition on my Facebook page. I was rather skeptical about doing so after running a similar competition of my wife's crafting making page but I went ahead anyway.
The competition is for the 500th page "like" to win a £20.00 Amazon Gift Voucher. Similar to the competition ran on my wife's page. However, that competition was pulled after less than 24 hours when the page fell victim to spam and fake followers who troll pages hoping to win competitions. I'll not go into the remarks and abuse received from people who took offence at the competition being pulled. Needless to say though, none of them liked the page.
One of the hardest parts of being an independent author is selling yourself, trying to get yourself noticed. Most of my self-promotion is done through Twitter and my Facebook page. So I decided to go ahead with a competition on my own page, well aware of what might happen. It didn't. I gained three new page likes.
In a period of less than 15 hours, my page likes shot up. I gained almost 300 new likes in that short space of time.
Now, most people would be saying "woohoo" and thinking that their page had suddenly become popular. Not me. I'm skeptical about most things, especially when it comes to the internet. Things like that don't just happen themselves, there is usually a human behind it.
So I decided to do a bit of research… and discovered that a sudden influx of likes on a Facebook page is indeed usually because of competition trolls looking for a win. Or people setting up fake accounts to do likewise. Or to spam!
The official line from Facebook is…
"Authentic identity is important to the Facebook experience, and our goal is that every account on Facebook should represent a real person. Our efforts to allow only authentic users on the site can result in a decrease in fan count of Pages with which those accounts had been associated"
And the measures they have in place for controlling this are already active on my page, the like count has been slowly decreasing throughout today.
I would still like to reach 500 page likes, not out of vanity or to beat anyone but to increase my visibility. To let people know I'm there and I have a product for sale. That product being the books I write.


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Overview of content related to 'ibm'
This page provides an overview of 1 article related to 'ibm'. Note that filters may be applied to display a sub-set of articles in this category (see FAQs on filtering for usage tips). Select this link to remove all filters.
International Business Machines (IBM) (NYSE: IBM) is an American multinational technology and consulting firm headquartered in Armonk, New York. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas ranging from mainframe computers to nanotechnology. The company was founded in 1911 as the Computing Tabulating Recording Corporation through a merger of four companies: the Tabulating Machine Company, the International Time Recording Company, the Computing Scale Corporation, and the Bundy Manufacturing Company. CTR adopted the name International Business Machines in 1924, using a name previously designated to CTR's subsidiary in Canada and later South America. Its distinctive culture and product branding has given it the nickname Big Blue. (Excerpt from Wikipedia article: IBM)
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|Article summary
Putting the Library Into the Institution: Using JSR 168 and WSRP to Enable Search Within Portal Frameworks
Chris Awre, Stewart Waller, Jon Allen, Matthew J Dovey, Jon Hunter and Ian Dolphin describe the investigations and technical development undertaken within the JISC-funded Contextual Resource Evaluation Environment (CREE) Project to enable the presentation of existing search tools within portal frameworks using the JSR 168 and WSRP portlet standards.
October 2005, issue45, feature article


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Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi, the Star
Whoopi, the Comic
Yussuf J. SimmondsManaging Editor
'Academy-Award, Emmy-Award, Grammy-Award and Tony-Award Winner'
At the opening of "Motown 30," Whoopi Goldberg appeared in a long flowing pink dress, and her figure from behind showed a body sporting a full head of dangling hair, and with a smooth silky-tone voice she crooned, "If you need me, call me," imitating Diana Ross. Then she spun around and said in a heavier tone, "But don't call me before eight o'clock in the morning, Honey," in her normal voice, as she climbed down from some steps she had been perched on, showing her white socks and white tennis shoes. That was the vintage Whoopi Goldberg.
In an industry where style and traditions are set and fixed by the dominant culture, and standards of beauty are often what the public sees strutting down the fashion runways and on the cover of magazines, Goldberg has achieved success on her own terms, with her own styles, fashions and ideas of beauty. Having won the top award in the four main categories-Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony-she can truthfully say, "I did it my way."
However, life was not always smooth and silky for her. Goldberg was not born into wealth; she achieved wealth and success as a Black woman despite the odds and by beating the odds. She was born Caryn Elaine Johnson on November 13, 1955 in New York City, to a nurse/teacher mother; and a clergyman father. Early in her life Goldberg's father left the family so she was raised by a single mother. According to Goldberg, her mother was very stern, strong and wise, and it seemed to have carried over to her now-famous daughter. Unknowingly she suffered from dyslexia and it affected her studies, so at 17, she dropped out of high school.
During her formative years, Goldberg worked in various odd jobs while trying to find her niche-she worked in a funeral parlor, and a bricklayer, taking small parts on Broadway while navigating up the food chain of the comedy world. A combination of factors-part slang and part religion-led her to change her name from Caryn Johnson to Whoopi Goldberg and as a youngster, she was enthralled with the Lt. Uhura character played by Nichelle Nichols in "Star Trek." It was not the buffoon/maid stereotype that was relegated to many Blacks at the time and therefore had a significant effect on her. (Later on, Goldberg scored a recurring role on "Star Trek: The Next Generation.")
Moving to California, her skills as a stand-up comedienne blossomed as she infiltrated the comedic world. Goldberg's rise to prominence came during a one-woman, HBO special where she played Moms Mabley, the legendary comedienne. And though her resume includes actress, singer-songwriter, activist, author and talk show host, she has had a few bumps in the road along the way to stardom: multiple marriages and drug addiction. In addition, some of her social commentaries have been controversial. Goldberg's trademarks became her dreadlocks, wire-rimmed glasses worn halfway down her nose, and a wide impish grin, combined with adept portrayals in both comedic and dramatic roles, as well as groundbreaking work in the Hollywood film industry. That made her unique as an African-American entertainer.
Her film debut was memorable. In 1985, Goldberg played a mistreated, southern Black woman, Celie Harris Johnson, in "The Color Purple" for which she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress, a milestone-her first movie and her first Academy Award nomination. She did not capture the Academy Award on her first screen outing but she did win her first Golden Globe Award. The role placed her on Hollywood's radar though some critics later on claimed that Goldberg did not have to act that much, Â Celie Johnson was, in many ways, a reflection of her true self, Caryn Johnson. She demonstrated sound acting skills since both 'Celie' and 'Caryn' lacked "traditional" beauty and book smarts, yet managed to overcome many obstacles and barriers in their lives to find happiness.
In 1990, she flexed her dramatic muscles as Oda Mae Brown, a psychic of questionable repute, in the blockbuster film "Ghost." For this role, Goldberg won an Academy Award for best supporting actress (the first in 50 years since Hattie McDaniel won in 1940) and her second Golden Globe Award. That role has also been listed in the list of the top 100 best movie characters by "Premiere Magazine." She went on to star in many more memorable films including "Clara's Heart," "Sarafina," "Made in America," "Burglar," "How Stella Got Her Groove Back," "Jumpin' Jack Flash," "Fatal Beauty," "Rat Race" and "Sister Act," just to name a few.
In May 1992, when "Sister Act" was released, it grossed well over $100 million in the U.S. and Goldberg was nominated for another Golden Globe Award. That triggered a sequel two years later: "Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit." By 1996, her presence in Hollywood was secured; that year, four of her movies were released: "Bogus," "Eddie," "The Associate" and "Ghosts of Mississippi."
In addition to movies, she did television, stage and vocal renditions for animated movies such as "The Lion King," "The Pagemaster" and "Captain Planet and the Planeteers." Goldberg's work in television consisted of a myriad of genres: movies, series and game show regular, radio and talk show host, stand-up comedy, and guest roles. She hosted a nationally-syndicated radio talk show, "Wake Up With Whoopi," and parlayed some of her stand-up comedy routines into political commentaries and social activism-in the latter, she publicly protested California's Proposition while in New York. And her compilation of awards reflected this versatility.
For her television work, Goldberg has been nominated for a record 13 Emmy Awards and won seven. She starred in the TV situation comedy, "Bagdad Cafe," in 1990 and hosted "the Whoopi Goldberg Show," a late-night talk show. She co-produced and was a regular on "Hollywood Squares" from 1998 to 2004, followed by one of the moderator's spot on the talk show "The View" since 2007. In addition, she received a Tony Award as a producer of the Broadway musical "Thoroughly Modern Millie," four People's Choice Awards, a British Academy Film Award and several NAACP image Awards. On her 48th birthday, Goldberg was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Her comic routines have been aired on HBO as television specials "Comic Relief" with fellow comedians Robin Williams and Billy Crystal to highlight awareness relative to human and natural tragedies, and to raise funds to assist numerous philanthropic causes. Goldberg has also been an advocate for human rights worldwide; has moderated a panel at the Alliance of Youth Movements Summit on the use of social networks to fight violent extremism in 2008; and has also moderated a panel at the UN in 2009 on armed conflict, terrorism, human rights and reconciliation.
Goldberg became the first African-American female to host the Academy Awards in 1994, and she did it so well that the Academy had her back as the host in 1996, 1999, and 2002. Her multitude of talents was blended with super star, Michael Jackson, in a guest appearance in his short film for the single, "Liberian Girl". She produced two television sitcoms: Lifetime's original drama, "Strong Medicine," which ran for six seasons, and "Whoopi's Littleburg," a Nickelodeon show for young children. Goldberg then narrated an HBO special, "Unchained Memories," with Samuel Jackson and Angela Bassett about slave narratives, and became a spokeswoman for 'Slim Fast." In 2004, her association with 'Slim Fast' took a hit after she made a sexual joke about then President George W. Bush while at a fundraiser for presidential candidate, John Kerry at Radio City Music Hall in New York. Goldberg waved a bottle of wine, pointed toward her pubic area and said: "We should keep Bush where he belongs, and not in the White House." 'Slim-Fast' was offended by the comments and dropped her from its advertising campaign.
In a 2006 documentary, "African American Lives," Goldberg's family roots were traced to the Papel and Bayote people of Guinea-Bissau, West Africa, and the documentary went on to state that according to DNA test results, her genetic makeup was 92 percent Sub-Sahara Africa and 8 percent European. Goldberg has been married three times and has one daughter, Alexandrea, and three grandchildren, Amarah Skye, Jerzey and Mason, and the family seems to be following her footsteps; they appeared in a GAP commercial.
Though she has her own production company, One Ho Productions, which backs most of her movies and television projects, Goldberg is loathe to fly the friendly skies, as a result of several bad experiences. For many years, she preferred travel by her personal bus even from coast to coast. But recently, she has resumed airplane travel and said she would continue more frequently in the future barring no unforeseen incidents.
Goldberg's tenure as one of the current hosts of "The View" has been punctuated by sporadic controversy. Some of her controversies included her remarks about Michael Vick's dog fighting as being part of his cultural upbringing and the different relationship Chinese have with cats. However, on the ratings' radar, the mechanism that drives television shows, Goldberg has caused the show to experience a 7 percent increase to 3.5 million total viewers after her first two weeks. On a recent show, with four other women-dressed in dresses-acting as co-hosts, Goldberg made her grand entrance with the group, dressed in jeans, shirt and vest; that's vintage Whoopi Goldberg.
"Legends" is the brainchild of Danny J. Bakewell Sr., executive publisher of the Los Angeles Sentinel. Every week it will highlight the accomplishments of African Americans and Africans.
Email comments or questions to


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Waterkloof and Centurion won their Nu Power semi-final matches against Nelspruit and EG Jansen respectively on Saturday.
Nu Power defending champions Waterkloof eased past Nelspruit to a 49-19 win – a respectable result as the latter upset Monument in the quarter-finals last weekend. Centurion recorded a good comeback win to down EG Jansen 49-35 to make a surprise appearance in the final.
Waterkloof assistant coach Naas Botha managed to watch the Centurion-EG Jansen clash after his team's win, and he expects an epic battle in the tournament decider.
'Centurion came back very well as there was a stage in the match when everybody though EG Jansen was running away with it. It was a brilliant schoolboy match,' Botha told Schoolboy Derby. 'Centurion have a great pack of fowards this year and their speedy backline is very dynamic, which gives them the ability to score plenty of tries.
'It will be tough for us in the final as we don't have the size of their forwards or the pace of their backs. We will need to plan very carefully and play as unit to overcome Centurion.'
By Gareth Duncan


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Results 1 to 30 of 65
August 7th, 2005 #1
T-DOME: Last Man Standing Round One (Matches 37-48)
T-DOME: Last Man Standing Round One (Matches 37-48)
Here it is, you talented bastards. The time for you to see all your hard work matched up against your random opponents for the first time. Only one person from each match makes it to round two. To everyone who participated, thanks for helping make this dome a memorable one. To everyone who missed the boat this time around , you're still in for a hell of a ride.
Entries are listed in the order the match is listed (ie. Dude1 vs Dude2: Dude1 will be first image listed, Dude2 the second. Amazing!)
Match 37 salah vs Marko Djurdjevic
Match 38 trev vs Burning Eyes
Match 39 SteveO vs Tully
Entry not submitted
Match 40 tagHeuer vs FlipMcGee
Match 41 Fozzybar vs AngryScientist
Match 42 fungi vs R'john
Match 43 redehlert vs metaphysics
Match 44 - strych9ine vs Smitherines
Match 45 lukavi vs al-x
Match 46 draw vs Rinaldo
Match 47 blog vs |NTeRN
Match 48 - Ptree3 vs Form
Hide this ad by registering as a memberAugust 7th, 2005 #2
hmm Marko is in trounble.
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=48347 ------Sketchbook
August 7th, 2005 #3
marko that piece is damn nice. I guess your the man for a reason. Id love to see more painted pieces like this in the future.
August 7th, 2005 #4
sweet entries !!
Good luck to all the contenders !!
August 7th, 2005 #5
Marko's is awesome but Salahs is pretty rockin too. Probably the best two in this thread.
August 7th, 2005 #6
Fozzybar: Love it! Hilarious!
Tully: Very cool as well! Great work!
www.WhereIsMyEyeball.com My portfolio! Go check it out!
August 7th, 2005 #7Registered User
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Nice work lukavi.
A lot of other nice entries here too. Will be sad to see either Marko or Saleh leave the challenge after this round.
August 7th, 2005 #8
Wow... Marko and Salah is gonna be interesting. Fozzy... brilliant! Demon piss! This page is close in all the matches... Tully - scary...
August 7th, 2005 #9
Nice! Another huge batch of digital goodness.
My favourites from this set are the pieces from Marko Djurdjevic, Tully, tagHeuer, Fozzybar, fungi and Rinaldo.
Marko: Love this one, the faces/neck area and the light shining through the holes in the wings is really awesome. I reckon you could maybe have pushed the blue light from below a little brighter to give the torso more depth, but that's a really minor crit. Oh, and you're disqualified for not reading the rules and making the image too big (like too many other people!)
Tully: Shame SteveO didn't submit, I guess a bit annoying to put so much effort into a piece and then win by default, but at least you have another great image for your portfolio!
Fozzybar: Hehe, really made me laugh - nice take on this theme
Fungi: The sharpness, style, ideas and colours in your images always impress me. Another great piece here!
blog: Couldn't you have cropped off the white space to the right of your image?
Last edited by MoP; August 7th, 2005 at 04:47 PM.
August 7th, 2005 #10
August 7th, 2005 #11Registered User
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Some awesome stuff in here, salah vs Marko is another excellent battle
August 7th, 2005 #12
August 7th, 2005 #13
Marko Djurdjevic: Indeed your are the man! I would love too
see more color work form you, excelent use of dinamic light
fungi: he he thats one hell of a tick, I wouldnt wanna
be the one that fells his daemonish sting
Fozzybar: he he IMO its the second funiest thing I have
seen on the TD, that little creature of hell is gonna need sum
titanium huggies to stop those sulfur acid incontinence problems,
poor little teddy
mail to: firstname.lastname@example.com
August 7th, 2005 #14
Nice work by everyone, a lot of close fights. Best of luck all.
August 7th, 2005 #15Originally Posted by Torgovix
Time to get back to browsing like mad.
Sketchbook group:
staylor InkFish Rodrigo! Maxetormer ZebzFree bRØk3n_sPiRiT max1975
Hablas español? Entra!
August 7th, 2005 #16
Great work salah, you've really pushed hard on your entry.
August 7th, 2005 #17
Salah & Marko! Fuck I love them both.
Fungi...you never cease to amaze me over and over
RedAlert>> This is by far one of your better ones, good job bro!
Rinaldo>> I really fucking love it!
strych9ine>> great job on the entry and thanks for managing all this fucking madness and make it all happening. CHEERS!
Great entries every one.
Last edited by xia; August 7th, 2005 at 07:29 PM.Originally Posted by Dougbot
How to draw and paint *WARNING: You have been warned!*
August 7th, 2005 #18Registered User
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marko and salah: damn sweet stuff.
rinaldo: one of my favs!
fungi: dig it!
cheers to all!
August 7th, 2005 #19
marko vs salah = too sweet, fozzybar, fungi, rinaldo, 9ine, awesome work fellahs.
August 7th, 2005 #20
Well, sh*t. I wanted some competition! This just sucks all the fun out of it.
Phenomenal pieces submitted here, though! Two big thumbs up from me for Strych9ine.
Art is long and time is fleeting
August 7th, 2005 #21
HAHAHA, Fozzybar thats classic. Marko, good stuff. Fungi, R'john, Rinaldo, etc, there's a lot of good stuff in here.
New website: www.chrisjanderson.com
New Blog: http://www.chrisjanderson.blogspot.com
August 7th, 2005 #22
Im really enjoying goin through all these, Marko, Salah and Lukavi really stand out, great stuff everyone!!
August 7th, 2005 #23
Marko, as usual your piece is just friken siiiiick!!! it's true dude, I've always loved your line work and pencil renderings and to see it come to life in a painting is just awesome. That Demon is a mean mo fo!!! Props man.
August 7th, 2005 #24
Fungi's piece is nice.
Marko's is my fav in here.
Salah's is also great.
TEAM CHOW - Nasty Sausages
The Ocean Collective
August 7th, 2005 #25
Sweet entries!!!!
Fozz....damn it all to hell. Literally - that's so damn funny!!!
Nice to see we were on the same page, 'cept I'm torchin' Meta's avatar.
Meta - so glad you posted your work! Damn nice piece too. Gonna be tough.
Xia - thanks bro! I appreciate the ass pat!
ps. Major thanks Cody!
There is no "I" in team, but there is an "I" in pie. And there's an "i" in meat pie. Meat is the anagram of team...~Shaun "Shaun of the Dead"
August 7th, 2005 #26Guest
Nice job Salah and Marko...
turned out to be a closer match than I had thought
Lukavi, that character is great...reminds me of my old landlord...heh
August 7th, 2005 #27
well,only you can pull off such a radical design Marko,awesome concept and composition,you sure know your stuff!..
fungi,youve got the strongest painting skills here,i dunno how you do it man.
strych9ine i love the dreamy feel to this one.
Rinaldo even from a roughly done piece i can tell you got skills,definatly gonna look out for more of your work.
welldone all..
"Don't fink!...feeeeeeewwl" -Bruce Lee
August 7th, 2005 #28
marko and salah - now that is going to be a tough call! Everyone else - good stuff
Ill do crits tomorro when Ive fully recovered. Went out drinking, got back at one am, then worked through untill 8 to finnish - well just about, bits of it are blatently rushed, my own fault for deciding to have a social life!
well maybe one crit...
smitheriens - I kinda like this demon dude, perhaps some sharper edges on the outline and highlights/shade would help make this guy look more solid and a little more dramatic since the shading is quite soft. I think the colours are nice and i like the anatomy of the upper torso - the legs Im less keen on. I can't make up my mind on the background - perhaps if it were darker and the pentogram symbol was glowing red and casting a backlight on the figure it would look cool? Just saying what comes to mind
August 7th, 2005 #29Originally Posted by Rusty
Marko and Salah, you guys both pulled off some nice stuff. Both very different in design but both good works.
Shawn Adomanis
"Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!" The Wizard of Oz
August 7th, 2005 #30
Eyes dropped from sockets and hour ago but still goggling
Great googly moogly! My hat's off to all of you that busted your humps and got your entries in!
Don't think I have to say much more about the marko v salah matchup that hasn't already been said, but a few words come to mind Holy and shit!, God and Damn! etc...
Lukavi-as always fine work! I'm still going to haunt you for tut in the COW forums...
Fungi-do I have to tell you about your rendering skills that any of a million people haven't told you before? But what the hell can't hurt anything...they are phenomenal. Outstanding work!
Redehlert: What a quantum leap!...This piece is just chock full of little things that keep the eye moving around. Love the shirt as well...gonna have to tell my how you got that on there...
Fozz: Got the great humor going on in that one...I like the simplicity and the rendering...excellent job man.
Again...wonderful pieces all around...cheers to you all!
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I hope everyone is prepared for this storm. It looks to be real bad for us in NY/NJ/PA. Everyone stay safe and hope for the best.
I hope everyone is prepared for this storm. It looks to be real bad for us in NY/NJ/PA. Everyone stay safe and hope for the best.
Be safe everyone!
HRC- Our season never ends
"Shoot fast or shoot last"
HR UH Nilsson's on a wing n a prayer SH WCX
Prayers sent to all please stay safe.
RIP Bear. 12-31-2000 - 03 -17-2015 GMHR Riparian Bearly Behavin MH SH QAA (FC AFC Rebel with A Cause X AFC Bams Liberty Belle MH )
GMHR Gadwalls Nightmare (MHR Tanglewood Iron Dago x Wind River Poppin Pepper)
MHR Highlands Bearcat (FC AFC Suncrest Bear X GMHR Gadwalls Nightmare)
Croppers Gold Dust (NAFC FC M D's Cotton Pick' N Cropper X Hunka Papas Chardonnay JH )
Latest path projection takes it right thru here. Already pretty bad here but still have power, for now.
John Baitinger
Take care Bait (and all the folks up that way) ... Been in touch with family on Long Island - its already a "mess" thanks to the wind - now 3 days of rain ahead. Keeping you all in my thoughts and prayers!
Danielle R. Pellicci
Home of:
(FC AFC Cori X Malli QAA)
(FC AFC Kicker X Spice MH CD RA OA NAJ)
(FC AFC CAFC Copper X Faith MH QA2)
(2XNAFC FC AFC HOF Ram X Cree)
(HRCH Ticket MH XPenny CD BN RN SH)
RIP: Rhumblines Guinness is Good, JH... Miss you every day "Big Man"
Everyone stay safe. ABC news painted quite the picture. Hopefully! it loses steam on it path, quick. Take care you all.
HRCH Scaupgetters Tarnation QAA
HR Blackie 2 CGN, WCI
Hashtag Mickey
Button down the hatches Jeff & Lynn, looks like a rough one coming - and all you folks in VA, DE, NJ, NY, PA (you folks in MD & NC too). I have friends in SE WVA & they are expecting 1-2 ft of snow. A wild & dangerous storm.........
Last edited by Granddaddy; 10-29-2012 at 07:25 AM.
David Didier, GA
hope GDGNYC (George) is safe, I think he lives on Lon-Gisland.
and they are gonna get a storm surge
"So what is big is not always the Trout nor the Deer but the chance, the being there. And what is full is not necessarily the creel nor the freezer, but the memory." ~ Aldo Leopold
"The Greatest Obstacle to Discovery is not Ignorance -- It is the Illusion of Knowledge" ~ Daniel Boorstin
I'm in CT, gov evacuated about 400,000 people on the coast fearing huge storm surge of up to 11 feet! Not too much rain on this side of the storm but big wind expected! I'm a little inland, me and the pups are prepared for the worst and hoping to catch a break!
__________________________________________________ _____________
Brownstone's Harley- "Harley" 7/29/2009 (By CH Woodhull's Roger That)
Maple Hill's Ella Enchanted QAA- "Ella" 8/30/2011 (FC AFC Land Ahoy x Stella's Duck Delivery MH)
Good Idea's The Cutting Edge- "Edge" 9/29/2014 (Grady x Good Idea's Touch of Class)


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MIDLOTHIAN For as long as parents have been adopting children, some children have been wondering who their biological parents are.
In the age of social media, searching for birth parents can now be faster and go further than anyone thought possible including Sarah Bryce.
I have friends on my Facebook that I was just acquaintances with in high school and junior high, Bryce said.
But now, with one Facebook post, she's the one doing the looking for two people she hardly ever knew: Her birth parents.
Bryce was adopted in 1978 from Duncan Memorial Hospital in Fort Worth when she was just 10 days old. Her adopted mother died six years ago, and was always her hero.
But Brice has always wondered about the 18-year-old man and 16-year-old woman who brought her into the world. It's them she wants to find with her Facebook post that's now been shared around the nation and the world.
Still, there's that nagging fear.
It's one thing to hear that someone has passed away; it's a totally different thing to find out that somebody doesn't necessarily want to have contact with you, she said.
Bryce posted her online plea 10 days ago. She's since been overwhelmed with kind words, and even a few actionable leads.
I really want that connection. I want to fill a void that's been in my heart my whole life, she said. But I'm strong to accept the fact that it may never happen.
Those are the words of a strong woman on the outside, but inside, there's still that child who needs to know more.
Perhaps Facebook can help her find the answer.
E-mail firstname.lastname@example.com


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The Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine took time on August 6th to mark the birthday of the founder of Osteopathic Medicine. Dr. Andrew T. Still was born 182 years ago on August 6, 1828.
|LECOM staff celebrated A.T. Still's birthday with a cake designed by staff member Craig Zboyovski.
Dr. Still suffered great personal suffering during his lifetime. Three of his children died from meningitis at an early age. Their deaths prompted Dr. Still to look for a better way of practicing medicine. He believed doctors of his generation were poorly trained and overused drugs that were often worse than the diseases themselves. Still became a proponent of preventative medicine and wellness. He believed physicians should focus on treating the whole patient, not just the disease.
Dr. Still founded the field of Osteopathic Medicine and opened the American School of Osteopathy in 1892 in Missouri. A new form of medicine was born. Today, there are more than 50,000 osteopathic doctors in the United States. Like Dr. Still, LECOM is committed to total wellness in each person, in our communities, and in our school.