New Article: Crooks & Crypto

shutterstock_1007522356-600x399If you’ve ever wondered about the illegal use of cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, here’s the essential piece to read.

Illicit transactions happen, scams exist, and electronic tokens don’t come with the same safeguards as money kept in bank accounts.

Read the article here on Moneyweb.

Bridge Interrupted

Originally from BridgeBlogging.com
I haven’t been practicing my bridge game as often as I should – which is, frankly, shameful – although there’s reason.
We’ve been served with a surprise eviction notice by our landlords, who themselves are supposedly bridge players, to be out on the 29th of May. Illegal, and our lawyers have taken over.
Lawyer's letter
So far, we’ve been asked if we eat pork, asked why I hang out with the [racial expletive removed], insisted we attend their church on numerous occasions, and had them knock on our bedroom window at very weird hours for no reason with increasing frequency. It’s hard to work, and even harder to get to any card games.
There seems to be a serious racial element: My wife and I both have family mixed into a cultural melting pot, and we certainly don’t feel comfortable bringing anyone here for a visit.
There have also been numerous occasions where the landlord has shown up shirtless at the front door in front of my wife and daughter.
The stress of this has already caused my wife to have more than one heart attack while we’ve been living here, one actively during one of their bouts of knocking. I’ve had to see a doctor myself, and now on antibiotics to take care of a highly infected cut (which I’d gotten having to jump over our non-working electric gate covered in razor wire which the landlords have been neglecting for months).
My wife and I are both disabled, and we’re definitely in no state to pull off a move.
Again, we had a nasty event this morning where the landlady repeatedly knocked on our door and shoved her face through our bedroom window. Of course, in a state as a result – again.
We’ve officially been threatened with eviction, and I’m unimpressed considering we’re on the legal right end of this. The repeated harassment seems deliberate, and everything from interviews to bridge games are impossible to attend like this.
In return, our lawyers have issued a letter, several direct messages and will likely need to proceed with a protection order if the harassment doesn’t end until we’ve moved.
It’s impossible to make it to a physical bridge game in this state for either of us. The harassment has to stop: Period. I’ve missed several bridge and poker games and events, and several interviews have had to be moved thanks to the constant harassment here.
Thankfully, there’s Funbridge – although I’m hoping to show up at more bridge and poker events and games once this is all over.

Alzheimer’s SA: Playing Bridge for Alzheimer’s

Contract bridge is one of the most popular card games of all time, and there are thousands of players in South Africa as well as hundreds of clubs that new and veteran players can join if they want to partner up with someone and play a game – but contract bridge is also a lot more than just a card game, and research shows that it can be hugely beneficial to developing the mind in diagnosed cases of Alzheimer’s.

Here’s how the game of bridge can prove to be useful to Alzheimer’s research, and more about the American Contract Bridge League and the Longest Day campaign.

The Bridge2Success Fest for 2019

Fest

Are you a bridge player, or would you like to learn more about the game? Remember to check out the Bridge2Success Fest for 2019, taking place on the 11th of May in Warsaw, Poland.

You can find more info at the official B2S website here.

If you can’t attend (and even if you are), remember that the Bridge2Success initiative is more than just this year’s festival: It’s an overall initiative to see people playing more bridge in schools, offices, clubs and homes to improve their life and business skills.

Play more bridge!