What not to do:
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Astrophysicists should use their free time to practice the guitar and found bands.
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Brian Cox and Brian May should do something.
Maybe get a few more Brians.
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I cannot wait for this! The Shakespeare stream in support of Samaritans UK was magical. This time it’s readings of gothic horror classics to help out the cast of Immersive Dracula, a production that got postponed due to the virus. Some of the actors are having a hard time with food and rent money since, for once, the show can’t go on.
Edited to add: …and if you want to see what the Shakespeare stream was like, most of it is available at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLS612JIJIdHqPJPKGQQ6dmsFsAiPKNBNH .
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Brilliant. Shame he can’t add piers morgan given that he’s been quite sensible with the seriousness of this.
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What wonderful time is this where people can find the joy (and the bass drop) in a Prime Minister’s press conference.
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Social distancing - pretty much the norm in the North since living memory:
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Isolation card games:
There are few good card games for two players, and few good card games that don’t involve luck. But there is this one that I never knew the name of…
Starting with the simplest, two-player version.
Sort the deck into suits. Put the hearts aside, shuffle the diamonds and place them in a face-down pile, give the clubs to one player and the spades to the other.
So, each player has a hand that consists of the entirety of a single suit. Apart from the suit, the two players’ hands are identical.
The aim of the game is to win the diamonds. Begin by turning the top card from the stack of diamonds and laying it face-up. Then each player chooses one card from their hand and places it face-down on the table.
Once both players have chosen their cards, they’re both flipped face-up and the higher card wins the trick, gaining the face-up diamond card as their prize. Both players discard the card that they played. Then, flip the next diamond in the stack and repeat.
Once all cards have been played, players add up their scores. The Ace of Diamonds is worth one point, the two of diamonds is two points, etc. Jack is worth eleven, Queen twelve, King thirteen. Highest total score wins.
If both players chose identical cards during a round, the diamond stays on the table and is added to the reward for the next one. For example, a five of diamonds is the “prize” in the first round, worth five points. Both players try to win it using their six card, creating a draw. The next card drawn from the diamond stack is a Jack; normally this would be worth eleven points, but in this case it is added to the six, creating a combination worth seventeen.
The basics are very simple, but the gameplay is not. As both players have identical hands, and each card can only be used once, it is impossible to win every trick. Therefore, the key strategy is to attempt to alternately (i) win a round by the smallest margin possible, or (ii) lose a round by the largest margin possible. Basically, for each trick you want to make a decision as to whether or not you’re actually trying to win it. If you’re not trying to win, play the lowest card possible; if you are trying to win, guess what the other player will use and a play a card one higher.
Obviously, a lot of psychology and bluff comes into this.
For the simple kids version, play with the discards face-up and visible, so both players can keep track of what cards their opponent has already used. For the less-simple adult version, hide the discards and force each player to mentally keep track of what cards have been played.
For the hyper-complex version, add a third player (using the until-now irrelevant hearts as their hand). In the three player version, the rules are identical, except with the wrinkle that it only takes a two-way tie to make a diamond persist until the next round. So, in the three (or more, if you have extra cards) player version, the key strategy is to manipulate the other two into simultaneously wasting their high cards on a tie, while you sneak through with a low card.
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Came across this elsewhere:
Grab the closest book to you, turn to page 56, post the 5th sentence as your status. Don’t mention the title.
Alright then.
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You’re not fooling anyone on that vid-conference call: Walmart says shirt sales soaring, pants not pulled up
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