[the hog]

gordontd, on 2011-May-04, 15:52, said:

Britain and America are not the only places where English is spoken as the first language.

Is it spoken as a first language in America Gordon? It doesn't sound like it to me.

[gwnn]

Because they don't have anything better to do.

By the way, how accurately can people from the region tell Australian vs NZ English (if we, indeed, can call those languages English)?

[jdeegan]

Wherever the guy is from, he is a native English speaker and almost surely a college teacher who, like most of such kind, has been educated well beyond his intelligence. Come to think of it, I do have some hazy, long distant memory that on occasion winning the duplicate could get guys laid.

[FrancesHinden]

gwnn, on 2011-May-06, 06:49, said:

Because they don't have anything better to do.

By the way, how accurately can people from the region tell Australian vs NZ English (if we, indeed, can call those languages English)?

Well, I'm English and I can tell the difference. They are quite different accents.

[RMB1]

gwnn, on 2011-May-06, 06:49, said:

By the way, how accurately can people from the region tell Australian vs NZ English (if we, indeed, can call those languages English)?

Similar to the difference between Canadian English and American English (languages we must also call "English").

[1eyedjack]

He made one statement that surprised me: a suggestion that if I flag an opponent as an enemy during a tournament then it becomes known to the TD. Someone tell me that ain't so?

[diana_eva]

Aint so

There is no automated notice issued when you mark someone as an enemy.

[hrothgar]

jdeegan, on 2011-May-06, 21:16, said:

Wherever the guy is from, he is a native English speaker and almost surely a college teacher who, like most of such kind, has been educated well beyond his intelligence. Come to think of it, I do have some hazy, long distant memory that on occasion winning the duplicate could get guys laid.

I looked at some other videos the guy posted.

He lives in Brunei
His name is David Brown

[babalu1997]

diana_eva, on 2011-May-07, 13:57, said:

Aint so

There is no automated notice issued when you mark someone as an enemy.

What he means is a pebcat tournament player reports a transgression of the tournament rules to pebcat.

Pebcat then makes him an enemy, and sends him into the wilderness to be swallowed by the anaconda.

The few who survive being eaten by the anaconda often beg to return to pebcat's games, but there is along line at the pearly gates.

[ggwhiz]

I was once in a Tea shop in South Africa when a local guy from a neighboring table came over and said "Excuse me but my hobby is regional accents. Are you from Toronto?"

He only missed us by 400 kilometers. Impressive.

I once wrote out a receipt for a man with a truly Brit accent who said his name was "Jakes" and then spelled it Jacques.

[nige1]

IMO, David Brown is basically right because (like me) he deals mainly in truisms. Thus his revelations include: genes are important in determining our nature; and we want to eat and have sex.

AFAIR, Ely Culbertson is said to have marketed bridge on

• Sex - A game for couples (Ely & Jo). Sexy terminology ("Squeeze strip endplays") and so on.
• Snobbery - Card clubs were for gentry.
• Women's lib - Women the equal of men. (Labour saving devices had reduced housework leaving women with more leisure time).

[jdeegan]

hrothgar, on 2011-May-07, 15:27, said:

I looked at some other videos the guy posted.

He lives in Brunei
His name is David Brown

On the Potential Utility of the Abductive Synthesis of an Explicit Semiquantitative Causal Model for the
Exercise of Rational Judgment

Dr. David Brown, Universiti Brunei Darussalam,
Research Interests: Artificial Intelligence, Biological Computation

February 10, 2009

Abstract:
The value of semiquantitative modelling to the exercise of judgment in non-trivial decision problems is
discussed. It is hypothesised that an explicit causal model can shed light on a decision problem and help
point the way to its solution by an iterative, abductive process of model reformulation.
Examples in four different domains are given.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 33

I rest my case.

[1eyedjack]

Out of curiosity, why is the "no" option in the poll singled out for the privilege of being qualified with two exclamation marks? Not a subliminal attempt at influencing the votes, I assume?

[gordontd]

ggwhiz, on 2011-May-07, 15:39, said:

I once wrote out a receipt for a man with a truly Brit accent who said his name was "Jakes" and then spelled it Jacques.

He might have been from the Channel Islands, where many names (people, streets, places) are French words that are anglicised in pronunciation. And then again, how do you pronounce Notre Dame University?

[gordontd]

hrothgar, on 2011-May-07, 15:27, said:

I looked at some other videos the guy posted.

He lives in Brunei
His name is David Brown

I looked at his profile on youtube - http://www.youtube.com/user/djhbrown
It shows his country as France.

[shintaro]

gordontd, on 2011-May-09, 07:37, said:

I looked at his profile on youtube - http://www.youtube.com/user/djhbrown
It shows his country as France.

not the same voice chappies

[Vampyr]

gordontd, on 2011-May-04, 08:05, said:

I started, on your recommendation, but then remembered I needed to wash my hair.

And afterwards you couldn't do a think with it? I have the second video on right now, but it is so dull I am going to leave the room to have a fag while it plays. But anyway, in answer to the question in the thread title:

Because they enjoy it.

Nah, that can't be it.