Ordering Fish and Chips at a Chinese restaurant

[peps...@gmail.com]

When I was a teenager, my grandparents took me and a boy my own
age out to a Chinese restaurant.
There was a small English section from the menu, and the boy
consistently ordered from there. If I remember rightly, it was
fish and chips but it was definitely something English.
I found this (slightly) irritating. It seemed kind of against the
spirit of the occasion which seemed to me clearly
an opportunity to enjoy Chinese food, at a time when I was still
young enough to find this exciting.

Anyway, now I find I had no reason to complain because, even
if this was a misstep, it was not so egregious and not such
an ugly idea as my mistep below where I slotted my acepoint
to aim to make a 5 point board (option 2).
Why is it so awful, I relish the opportunity to recirculate if I'm hit on
the ace.

XGID=--BCBB---A------a---BAcBd-:1:1:1:44:0:0:3:0:10
X:Daniel O:eXtremeGammon


Score is X:0 O:0. Unlimited Game, Jacoby Beaver
+13-14-15-16-17-18------19-20-21-22-23-24-+
| O | | X X O X O |
| | | X O X O |
| | | O O |
| | | O |
| | | |
| |BAR| |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | X | +---+
| | | X X X X | | 2 |
| X | | X X X X | +---+
+12-11-10--9--8--7-------6--5--4--3--2--1-+
Pip count X: 147 O: 22 X-O: 0-0
Cube: 2, X own cube
X to play 44

1. XG Roller+ 20/16*(2) 16/12(2) eq:-0.189
Player: 46.63% (G:0.00% B:0.00%)
Opponent: 53.37% (G:27.12% B:1.75%)

2. XG Roller+ 20/16* 16/12 9/1 eq:-0.499 (-0.310)
Player: 38.57% (G:0.00% B:0.00%)
Opponent: 61.43% (G:37.05% B:3.72%)

3. 4-ply 23/19 20/16*(2) 16/12 eq:-0.254 (-0.065)
Player: 45.10% (G:0.00% B:0.00%)
Opponent: 54.90% (G:29.28% B:2.25%)

4. 4-ply 23/19 21/17 20/16* 16/12 eq:-0.257 (-0.068)
Player: 44.96% (G:0.00% B:0.00%)
Opponent: 55.04% (G:29.34% B:2.20%)

5. 4-ply 21/13 20/16* 16/12 eq:-0.268 (-0.079)
Player: 44.70% (G:0.00% B:0.00%)
Opponent: 55.30% (G:29.44% B:2.53%)


eXtreme Gammon Version: 2.10

[atila...@gmail.com]

12 Mayıs 2022 Perşembe tarihinde saat 00:37:35 UTC+3 itibarıyla peps...@gmail.com şunları yazdı:

It is important to try to pick up a second checker if it can be done safely but the key is to make sure that O can't get away. (a bird in the hand is better than two in the bush) If the open point is a deep point, slotting is not too necessary in the early stages. However, if the open point is a high one, it may be right to slot into the direct shot.

Being six away from the empty point is ideal. Not only does this give you the maximum number of ways to get to the point from direct shot range, but it also covers all the territory where the opponent might land. and in such positions, it is necessary to prevent the opponent from escaping with big doubles (66)

[Timothy Chow]

On 5/11/2022 5:37 PM, peps...@gmail.com wrote:
> Anyway, now I find I had no reason to complain because, even
> if this was a misstep, it was not so egregious and not such
> an ugly idea as my mistep below where I slotted my acepoint
> to aim to make a 5 point board (option 2).
> Why is it so awful, I relish the opportunity to recirculate if I'm hit on
> the ace.

While a five-point board is better than a four-point board, you'd
much rather focus your attention on making the 6pt than the 1pt.
If you make the 6pt then even if the opponent enters from the bar,
you still have a formidable prime that O has to leap over. Whereas,
if you make the 1pt, you forgo all your priming potential. The blot
on your 9pt is better employed as a builder for your 6pt than as a
slotter on the 1pt.

[Nasti Chestikov]

On Wednesday, 11 May 2022 at 22:37:35 UTC+1, peps...@gmail.com wrote:
> When I was a teenager, my grandparents took me and a boy my own
> age out to a Chinese restaurant.
> There was a small English section from the menu, and the boy
> consistently ordered from there. If I remember rightly, it was
> fish and chips but it was definitely something English.
> I found this (slightly) irritating. It seemed kind of against the
> spirit of the occasion which seemed to me clearly
> an opportunity to enjoy Chinese food, at a time when I was still
> young enough to find this exciting.

Reminds me of a glorious holiday I had a few years ago in Turkey.

We found a very nice Chinese restaurant and frequented it several times.

The last night there was memorable, if for no other reason than a loud-mouthed, fat, bald Yorkshire bloke ordering curry sauce and chips and the waiter gloriously rebuking him with "this is a restaurant Sir, we don't serve chips". (The "chips" word was almost spat out).

Even better was the response: "why the f**k not, my Chinky restaurant back home serves them".

Brilliant. And the Brits wonder why the rest of the world hates them.

[peps...@gmail.com]

Ok, so my sense of irritation was reasonable, perhaps(?)
It was a strange experience for me, which perhaps made it memorable.
I was irritated with our fish-and-chips-ordering companion, but completely unable to articulate why.
And I'm still unable to justify my irritation -- it seems like he has the right to order whatever he wants.

Paul

[peps...@gmail.com]

On Friday, May 13, 2022 at 4:08:56 PM UTC+1, Nasti Chestikov wrote:

Good description, there!
I like the mention that he was "bald" and "fat". Clearly, if he was slim and hadn't lost his hair, his comments would have been
much less offensive.

Paul

[Nasti Chestikov]

On Saturday, 14 May 2022 at 13:42:53 UTC+1, peps...@gmail.com wrote:

> Good description, there!
> I like the mention that he was "bald" and "fat". Clearly, if he was slim and hadn't lost his hair, his comments would have been
> much less offensive.
>
> Paul

I never said his comments were offensive. Are you a Guardian reader?

I found them a perfect precis of everything wrong with your average Brit abroad.

The fact that most British males are fat and bald (even those in their twenties) was just a convenient plus to my post.

I digress, however. There was a lot of extraneous noise accompanying your post.......I think "mom" is calling you for dinner.

[peps...@gmail.com]

On Sunday, May 15, 2022 at 5:19:21 PM UTC+1, Nasti Chestikov wrote:
> On Saturday, 14 May 2022 at 13:42:53 UTC+1, peps...@gmail.com wrote:
>
> > Good description, there!
> > I like the mention that he was "bald" and "fat". Clearly, if he was slim and hadn't lost his hair, his comments would have been
> > much less offensive.
> >
> > Paul

....Are you a Guardian reader? ...

Yes, I am a Guardian reader.
I like to read the print version when possible. Often, I find that a column has been
truncated so that words are missing. I then fill in the missing words by googling
the exact phrase from before the omitted words, and filling in the missing words from the online edition.

It's not a great newspaper. I just read it out of habit.

Paul