Backgammon is one of the oldest board games known. It is a two player game where playing pieces are moved according to the roll of dice, and a player wins by removing all of his pieces from the board before their opponent. Backgammon is a member of the tables family, one of the oldest classes of board games in the world.
Each side of the board has a track of 12 long triangles, called points. The points are considered to be connected across one edge of the board, forming a continuous track in the shape of ahorseshoe, and are numbered from 1 to 24. In the most commonly used setup, each player begins with fifteen checkers.
Source
Deborah responded:
Each player in backgammon starts with 15 pieces, or checkers. I used to play obsessively. I should get the board out again and play it with my husband, now that the Tour de France is over.
Still unpleasantly hot, and is predicted to be so the rest of the week.
Marian said:
15
Jim from CA, retired to ID, replied:
15 checkers each in black and white
MAM wrote:
Fifteen
Joe S answered:
Twenty-seven, exactly twenty-seven, unless you hold the trump card (which is now a dirty word) in which case you begin with twenty, but as you hold the trump card you tell the other players that you have many more, checkers but you aren't going to display them. The other players have to take your word that you have yuuuuuuuge stores of checkers, and they must believe you because you have the trump card. Peace --Joe
Patriot Act NSA Spying Unconstitutional Section 215 National Security Letters Must End
My name is Marc Perkel and I have decided to announce that I will not comply with the so called "Patriot Act" laws requiring me to disclose information about my customers. If I receive a national security letter I will immediately photograph it, post it online everywhere I can, and then make a video of me burning it. I will then await my arrest. If you want to put me in jail then come get me mother fucker.
CBS begins the night with a RERUN'NCIS', followed by a FRESH'Zoo', then the FRESH'Philly Love Fest'.
CBS begins the night early on the left coast with the FRESH'Philly Love Fest', followed by a RERUN'NCIS', then a FRESH'Zoo', followed by some padding with local crap.
Scheduled on a FRESHStephen Colbert are Jeff Daniels, Bassem Youssef, and Aurora.
Scheduled on a FRESHJames Corden, OBE, are Tatiana Maslany, Mike Birbiglia, and Michael Wolfe & Tyler Harding.
NBC starts the night on the East Coast with a FRESH'America's Got Talent', followed by the FRESH'Philly Love Fest'.
NBC starts the night early on the left coast with the FRESH'Philly Love Fest', followed by a FRESH'America's Got Talent', then a RERUN'Dateline'.
Scheduled on a FRESHJimmy Fallon are Michael Fassbender, Abby Elliott, and Bastille.
Scheduled on a FRESHSeth Meyers are Alicia Vikander, Andy Cohen, and Maria Bamford.
On a RERUNCarson 'The Scab' Daly (from 5/10/16( are Tituss Burgess, Plague Vendor, and Ali Wong.
ABC opens the night on the East Coast with a FRESH'The Bachelorette', followed by the FRESH'Philly Love Fest'.
ABC opens the night early on the left coast with the FRESH'Philly Love Fet', followed by a FRESH'The Bachelorette', then pads with local crap.
Scheduled on a FRESHJimmy Kimmel are David Spade, Ozzy & Jack Osbourne, and the Strokes.
The CW offers a FRESH'Whose Line Is It Anyway?', followed by another FRESH'Whose Line Is It Anyway?', then a FRESH'MADtv'.
Faux offers a FRESH'Hotel Hell', followed by a FRESH'Coupled'.
MY has 'TMZ (Not So) Live', followed by 'Hollywood Today (Not So) Live'.
A&E has 'The First 48', followed by a FRESH'Married At First Sight', then another FRESH'Married At First Sight', followed by a FRESH'Born This Way'.
AMC offers the movie 'Jaws', followed by a FRESH'Feed The Beast'.
BBC -
[6:00AM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 11-Haven
[7:00AM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 25-Conspiracy
[8:00AM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 26-The Neutral Zone
[9:00AM] RAMSAY'S KITCHEN NIGHTMARES US - SEASON 7 - EPISODE 30-Revisited: La Galleria 33, Olde Hitching Post, Prohibition Gastropub
[10:00AM] RAMSAY'S KITCHEN NIGHTMARES US - SEASON 5 - EPISODE 13-Cafe Hon
[11:00AM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - SEASON 4 - EPISODE 23-The Host
[12:00PM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - SEASON 4 - EPISODE 24-The Mind's Eye
[1:00PM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - SEASON 4 - EPISODE 25-In Theory
[2:00PM] PLANET EARTH: THE MAKING OF FROZEN PLANET - The Making of Frozen Planet
[3:00PM] PLANET EARTH: FROZEN PLANET - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 1-The Ends of the Earth
[4:00PM] PLANET EARTH: FROZEN PLANET - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 2-Spring
[5:00PM] PLANET EARTH: FROZEN PLANET - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 3-Summer
[6:00PM] THE HUNT - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 1-The Hardest Challenge
[7:00PM] THE HUNT - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 2-In The Grip of Seasons - Arctic
[8:00PM] THE HUNT - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 3-Hide And Seek - Jungles
[9:00PM] THE HUNT - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 4-Hunger At Sea - Oceans
[10:00PM] PLANET EARTH: FROZEN PLANET - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 1-The Ends of the Earth
[11:00PM] PLANET EARTH: FROZEN PLANET - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 2-Spring
[12:00AM] PLANET EARTH: FROZEN PLANET - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 3-Summer
[1:00AM] THE HUNT - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 1-The Hardest Challenge
[2:00AM] THE HUNT - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 2-In The Grip of Seasons - Arctic
[3:00AM] THE HUNT - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 3-Hide And Seek - Jungles
[4:00AM] THE HUNT - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 4-Hunger At Sea - Oceans
[5:00AM] PLANET EARTH: THE MAKING OF FROZEN PLANET - The Making of Frozen Planet (ALL TIMES EDT)
Bravo has 'Below Deck Mediterranean', another 'Below Deck Mediterranean', followed by a FRESH'Below Deck Mediterranean', and another 'Below Deck Mediterranean'.
Comedy Central has 'Futurama', another 'Futurama', 2 hours of old 'Tosh.0', followed by a FRESH'Tosh.0', then a FRESH'Not Safe With Nikki Glaser'.
Scheduled on a FRESHThe Daily Show is John Podesta.
Scheduled on a FRESHThe Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore is Wyclef Jean.
Scheduled on a FRESH@Midnight are Chris Cubas, Sarah Tiana, and Tony Hinchcliffe.
FX has fills the night with .the movie 'The Wolf Of Wall Street'.
History has 2 hours of old 'Counting Cars', followed by a FRESH'Counting Cars', then another FRESH'Counting Cars', followed by a FRESH'Big Easy Motors', then another FRESH'Big Easy Motors'.
IFC -
[6:00AM] COMEDY BANG! BANG!-Ty Burrell
[6:15AM] COMEDY BANG! BANG!-Joe Jonas Wears a Maroon and Gold Letterman Jacket With White Sneakers
[6:45AM] THE NUTTY PROFESSOR
[9:00AM] NUTTY PROFESSOR II: THE KLUMPS
[11:15AM] BRUCE ALMIGHTY
[1:30PM] THE NUTTY PROFESSOR
[3:45PM] NUTTY PROFESSOR II: THE KLUMPS
[6:00PM] THAT '70S SHOW-Beast of Burden
[6:30PM] THAT '70S SHOW-It's Only Rock 'n' Roll
[7:00PM] THAT '70S SHOW-Rip This Joint
[7:30PM] THAT '70S SHOW-Mother's Little Helper
[8:00PM] THAT '70S SHOW-Angie
[8:30PM] THAT '70S SHOW-You Can't Always Get What You Want
[9:00PM] THAT '70S SHOW-Surprise, Surprise
[9:30PM] THAT '70S SHOW-Winter
[10:00PM] THAT '70S SHOW-Don't Lie to Me
[10:30PM] THAT '70S SHOW-Can't You Hear Me Knocking
[11:00PM] THAT '70S SHOW-Beast of Burden
[11:30PM] THAT '70S SHOW-It's Only Rock 'n' Roll
[12:00AM] THAT '70S SHOW-Rip This Joint
[12:30AM] THAT '70S SHOW-Mother's Little Helper
[1:00AM] THAT '70S SHOW-Angie
[1:30AM] THAT '70S SHOW-You Can't Always Get What You Want
[2:00AM] THAT '70S SHOW-Surprise, Surprise
[2:30AM] THAT '70S SHOW-Winter
[3:00AM] THAT '70S SHOW-Don't Lie to Me
[3:30AM] BRUCE ALMIGHTY
[5:45AM] COMEDY BANG! BANG!-Maya Rudolph (ALL TIMES EDT)
Sundance -
[6:00AM] Love Lust-Love Lust & The Social Network
[6:15AM] I Know What You Did Last Summer
[8:45AM] The Abyss
[12:45PM] Groundhog Day
[3:15PM] Blues Brothers 2000
[6:00PM] The Blues Brothers
[9:00PM] Ghostbusters
[11:30PM] Ghostbusters II
[2:00AM] The Abyss (ALL TIMES EDT)
SyFy has the movie 'Zombie Shark', followed by the movie 'Ice Sharks'.
TBS:
Scheduled on a FRESHConan are Allison Janney, Nate Diaz, and Autolux.
Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., and actress Sarah Silverman speak during the first day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia , Monday, July 25, 2016.
Photo by Carolyn Kaster
Touts His 'Trump U' Degree In 'Megalomania Studies'
Al Franken
In a rare instance of a politician reverse-résumé-polishing, Minnesota Sen. Al Franken in jest claimed a degree from Trump University - which never did grant degrees - at the Democratic National Convention Monday on night.
Speaking on the first night of the convention, shortly before helping comedian Sarah Silverman introduce singer Paul Simon, Franken said he had a doctorate in "megalomania studies" from the Republican nominee's namesake unaccredited business school.
"Sure I had to empty out my 401-K and take a reverse mortgage on my house to pay tuition," Franken told the crowd in Philadelphia, "but Mr. Trump, or rather some people who say they once met him, convinced me it was worth it."
Trump University seems likely to play the same role at the DNC as "Benghazi" did last week for the Republicans: as shorthand for the lack of trustworthiness each party is trying to pin on the opposing candidate. The school, now defunct, is the defendant in three ongoing lawsuits alleging that it defrauded students of thousands of dollars in tuition for useless courses. Trump has denied the allegations, but stumbled into another controversy when he charged the judge in one of the cases with bias on account of his Mexican heritage.
Actress Eva Longoria takes the stage during the first day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia , Monday, July 25, 2016.
Photo by Paul Sancya
The producer of the 1997 thriller Air Force One is demanding that Donald Trump stop using the film's score at campaign events.
Producer Gail Katz on Monday told The Hollywood Reporter that Trump never asked the filmmakers for permission to use the score. She has written a letter to the Republican nominee's campaign requesting that it stop playing the score at future events.
"The music for Air Force One was composed and conducted by the legendary Oscar-winning film composer Jerry Goldsmith," writes Katz in the letter. "Jerry's music was hijacked in a misguided attempt to associate Trump with the film and the President in that film."
Veteran film music agent Richard Kraft, who represented Goldsmith for 15 years prior to his death in 2004, says the composer would not be pleased with his music being appropriated by Trump.
"From everything I know about Jerry Goldsmith's political views, he would have been extremely unhappy with Trump co-opting his art to sell his image," Kraft tells THR. "Goldsmith composed music to underscore a make-believe, heroic president in [Air Force One], not to help create a phony soundtrack for Trump. He would have been appalled to have his music selling a product he would greatly dislike."
Fans were given a sneak peek Monday at the hotly-anticipated sequel to "Trainspotting," 20 years after it delighted critics and shocked Hollywood with its vivid depiction of Scotland's heroin subculture.
The iconic black comedy's original cast -- fronted by Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller and Robert Carlyle -- have been reunited for the new film, which has the working title "T2."
The sequel also sees the return of director Danny Boyle, who has become a household name over the last two decades with a host of critical and commercial hits including "28 Days Later" and "Slumdog Millionaire."
In an echo of the original, a 41-second teaser released on the film's Twitter account shows Renton, Spud, Sick Boy and Begbie standing on a platform as a train passes by, with Iggy Pop's "Lust for Life" playing in the background.
"Trainspotting," which earned screenwriter John Hodge an Oscar nomination, followed a group of bored twentysomethings in the deprived east coast port of Leith during the 1980s.
Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) reacts to his introduction by actress Eva Longoria (L) at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. July 25, 2016.
Photo by Gary Cameron
Solar Impulse 2 landed Tuesday in the UAE, completing its epic journey to become the first sun-powered airplane to circle the globe without a drop of fuel to promote renewable energy.
The plane touched down at 04:05 (0005 GMT) in the capital Abu Dhabi after a more than 48 hour-long flight from Cairo, the final leg in its journey which began on March 9 last year.
Cheers and clapping welcomed the plane as it arrived at Al-Bateen Executive Airport, where it first launched its world tour, an AFP journalist reported.
Swiss explorer and project director Bertrand Piccard was in the cockpit during the 2,763 kilometre (1,716 mile) flight from Cairo, crossing the Red Sea, the vast Saudi desert and flying over the Gulf.
The flight capped a remarkable 42,000-kilometre journey across four continents, two oceans and three seas.
After Roger Ailes was ousted as chairman of Fox News in the wake of a sexual harassment lawsuit, new reports suggest that the cable network had a culture that was hostile to women and raise questions about whether incidents were covered up.
The most prominent former Fox newswoman to speak out was Rudi Bakhtiar, who said her contract was terminated after complaining about harassment by a Fox staffer.
Bakhtiar was among what the New York Times said were a dozen women who told reporters about provocative comments, assignments conditioned on oral sex, meetings filled with sexual innuendo, questions about their sex lives, and meetings with Ailes that began with hugs and kisses that made them uncomfortable.
A story in New York magazine detailed how Bakhtiar said she was treated at Fox News.
Even after she left Fox, Bakhtiar said the network continued to try push back against her claims.
Singer Demi Lavato speaks about mental health issues during the first day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia , Monday, July 25, 2016.
Photo by J. Scott Applewhite
Four days after the ouster of Roger Ailes as Fox News chief, two more executives at the network have been axed.
But the firing of Michael Clemente and his top deputy, Peter Boyer, were not related to the sexual harassment allegations that forced Ailes out at the network that he started two decades ago, two Fox executives said Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss personnel issues.
Clemente was executive vice president of news at Fox until April, when he was demoted and put in charge of a new division for specials and long form programming. He worked at ABC News before coming to Fox.
Fox says it is reevaluating that division as it concentrates on the election over the next few months.
Clemente's name has not been mentioned in any of the reports. It would make the timing of his firing particularly awkward.
Singer/songwriter Paul Simon takes the stage to perform during the first day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia , Monday, July 25, 2016.
Photo by Paul Sancya
The UN's economic and social council on Monday overturned by a strong vote a decision to deny the Committee to Protect Journalists consultative status at the United Nations.
The CPJ, which defends the right of journalists to work freely and speaks out for jailed reporters worldwide, applied for the special UN status four years ago but was denied the request by the UN NGO committee in May.
Seeking to reverse the decision, the United States asked the full 54-member ECOSOC, which oversees the work of the NGO committee, to vote on granting CPJ special status.
A total of 40 countries voted in favor of the request. Five countries voted against: China, Russia, Rwanda, Zimbabwe and Vietnam.
Granting consultative status to a non-governmental organisation allows it to have access to UN premises and gives it a voice as a recognized civil society group in UN discussions.
People buy some strips of garlic during the garlic fair in Vitoria, northern Spain, Monday, July 25, 2016. Every year a traditional garlic market is set on the Saint James patron day in Vitoria gathering producers of all around Spain.
Photo by Alvaro Barrientos
Comedian Katt Williams has been arrested on suspicion of battery following a dispute at a Los Angeles hotel.
Police tell the Los Angeles Times that Williams was arrested at the Sportsmen's Lodge late Sunday morning after a female employee said he injured her.
Williams faces a misdemeanor battery count and has been released on $20,000 bail. He's due in court on Aug. 18. His lawyer didn't immediately return a request for comment.
The 44-year-old Williams has been arrested several times this year, including in April, when police said he threw a salt shaker at a suburban Atlanta restaurant manager.
New revelations published today by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), in collaboration with more than a dozen news organizations in Africa, expose fresh details about the misuse of corporate secrecy and hidden wealth in Africa, the world's poorest continent.
Released nearly four months after ICIJ and more than 100 media partners first published what is now known as the Panama Papers, 11. 5 million files from the Panama-based law firm, Mossack Fonseca, today's investigations include new details about the middleman at the center of a probe into hundreds of millions of dollars in suspected bribes paid for oil and gas contracts awarded in Algeria.
The files also reveal the offshore assets, including a luxury yacht and jet, of a Nigerian aviation and oil magnate who is reportedly close to a former oil minister and has recently had some of his assets seized as part of a $1.8 billion probe into oil sales.
The revelations published by ICIJ and media partners include investigations from countries that are being examined for the first time, including Tanzania, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mozambique and Togo.
SoftBank Pepper robots illuminates during its launching in Taipei, Taiwan, July 25, 2016. SoftBank Pepper will be used by private businesses in Taiwan to help serve customers.
Photo by Ritchie B. Tongo
Europe's first regulated bitcoin product - an asset-backed exchange-traded instrument that will invest exclusively in the digital currency - begins trading this week on the Gibraltar Stock Exchange and Germany's Deutsche Boerse.
The Web-based currency can be used to send money instantly around the world, free of charge and with no need for third-party checks. It is accepted by several major online retailers and is used in more than 200,000 daily transactions.
Its value has been highly volatile, peaking at more than$1,200 in late 2013 before crashing after the collapse of the Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange. It has since stabilized somewhat, trading at around $655 on Monday, up more than 50 percent this year.
BitcoinETI will be available through regulated brokerages across Europe, and settlement will be handled through Clearstream and Euroclear, the Gibraltar Stock Exchange said, rather than via bitcoin's shared ledger system - the blockchain.
In the United States, where regulation of bitcoin and financial technology more broadly tends to be more onerous, twins Cameron and Tyles Winklevoss - entrepreneurs who famously sued Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg for allegedly stealing their idea - have been waiting for approval for a proposed bitcoin exchange-traded fund for three years.
The Rev. Tim LaHaye, co-author of the "Left Behind" series, a multimillion-selling literary juggernaut that brought end-times prophecy into mainstream bookstores, died Monday. He was 90.
LaHaye died in a San Diego, California, hospital, days after having suffered a stroke, according to his publicist Johnnie Moore.
Co-authored with Jerry B. Jenkins, the 16-volume "Left Behind" series of novels published by Tyndale House Publishers sold more than 80 million copies worldwide, Moore said, and popularized a Bible interpretation that said born-again Christians will be instantly taken to God in the Rapture, while those left behind on earth endure seven years of tribulation.
LaHaye was a key figure in conservative political groups, encouraging the Rev. Jerry Falwell to create the Moral Majority, forming the Council for National Policy, a secretive strategy group for prominent political and religious conservatives, and, along with his wife, Beverly, starting Concerned Women for America in 1979, as an alternative to liberal feminist organizations.
He was also a prolific nonfiction writer, writing more than 60 additional books, including the Christian sex manual "The Act of Marriage" and "The Battle for the Mind," whose denunciations of secularism helped rouse the religious right.
Born in 1926, LaHaye had a hardscrabble upbringing in Detroit, served in the Air Force at the end of World War II and graduated from Bob Jones University in Greenville, S.C., where he met his wife. He earned a midcareer doctorate at Western Seminary in Portland, Ore., and joined the Southern Baptist Convention.
After leading churches in South Carolina and Minnesota, he moved to Southern California, and for a quarter-century led a thriving congregation that eventually became Shadow Mountain Community Church. After 1981, he devoted himself to writing, promoting his view of Bible prophecy, family life seminars and political activism.
Some fellow conservative Christians pushed back against LaHaye's end-times views, known as premillennial dispensationalism, emphasizing that the books were fictional and should not be read as an exact theological interpretation of the Bible. Still, his books strongly shaped evangelical views of Jesus' Second Coming and popularized the ideas to the broader public. Jenkins called LaHaye a "spiritual giant."
LaHaye extended his influence by founding Christian high schools, San Diego Christian College, known formerly as Christian Heritage College, and a church in the Atlanta area, along with helping establish the Institute for Creation Research, which rejects evolution and contends God created the Earth recently in six literal days.
In 1987, LaHaye resigned as a co-chairman of Jack Kemp's Republican presidential campaign after news reports cited his criticisms of Roman Catholicism and Judaism.
LaHaye is survived by his wife, four children and nine grandchildren, among other relatives. No funeral plans were announced.
This May 18, 2016, provided by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife,photo from a remote camera set by biologist Chris Stermer, shows a wolverine in the Tahoe National Forest near Truckee, Calif. Once believed to have gone extinct in the Sierra Nevada, California wildlife biologists believe this wolverine, nicknamed Buddy, spotted this spring near Truckee, is the same one that in 2008 became the first documented in the area since the 1920s.
Photo by Chris Stermer
You have reached the Home page of BartCop Entertainment.
Do you have something to say?
Anything that increased your blood pressure, or, even better, amused or entertained?
Do you have a great album no one's heard?
How about a favorite TV show, movie, book, play, cartoon, or legal amusement?
A popular artist that just plain pisses you off?
A box set the whole world should own?
Vile, filthy rumors about Republican hypocrites?
wrote:
answered:
has returned to semi-retired status.
