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Bethesda, MD
A staunch believer in recovery, this newsletter provides consumers with the opportunity to express themselves both creatively and intellectually. We welcome your feedback! Please leave us comments :)

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Something to Consider

Writing to me is one of the best releases of stress for me.  I like to write poetry, short stories, and even a biography.  I also like to write about things that happen in day to day living.  I love to write about God.  Really there is only one word to describe God and that is love.  Because God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son to save our lives.  Not many people can say that they could do that. It’s easier to love the ones that you’re related to that it is show that same kind of love to those that you don’t know like strangers.  God wants us to love strangers just as we love our relatives.  There is a word for that and it is called agape love. God is love and love is God.
Another thing is that many people do not believe in God.  They say that God causes disasters and allows babies to die.  That is not the case.  God is really trying to teach us compassion and love when He allows those things to happen and as far as the babies dying, I believe that He’s trying to teach us empathy and sympathy for other people.  That is just an example of the love of God and part of who He is.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       by Lisa L.

Freedom

Freedom
The definition of freedom is simple.  Freedom is the right to make choices.  Laws generally restrict are right to choose, because they are accompanied by punishments for breaching them.  Punishments (and also rewards) make one choice for an individual more attractive than another choice.  However, laws sometimes prevent one individual from taking away another individual’s choices; thereby, they increase freedom despite influencing one’s right to choose.  Consequently, there is an intermediary quantity of laws that allow for maximum overall freedom.  Too many laws restrict freedoms, while too few laws lead to anarchy, preventing individual’s from their right to security and stability.  In this latter case, “survival of the fittest” determines each individual’s fate.  Survival of the fittest generally applies to animal societies.
The first known body of laws existed in Noah’s age and was called “The Five Postulates of Noah”.  These postulates took away one’s right to kill, one’s right to steal, and also included the necessity of courts, as well as a couple other restrictions on behavior.  This was an attempt to provide stability from anarchy; consequently, it attempted to increase the overall freedom of the society.   Without courts, lawyers, and judges no laws could be enforced.  This was the initial attempt to establish a judicial system.  The Ten Commandments was another attempt to increase freedom by establishing laws which clearly gave more freedoms to the people as a whole. 
It is the role of the judges to interpret the law.  The more specific a law is stated the less interpretation is necessary on the part of the judge.  Interpretation plays a role in influencing behavior, because a judge must also determine whether or not a behavior is right or wrong and to what extent a behavior is right or wrong, after he determines whether or not a law has been breached.  As long as a judge has some power to interpret the law, he might attempt to minimize or maximize the punishment for breaching the law.  Some laws are “set in stone” and others must be carefully interpreted.  However, today thousands of laws exist including county, state, national, and international law.  Laws of a country are sovereign, with the exception of International Laws.  Animals, although free of laws as we know them, have innate instincts which limit their behavior like our laws do.
The judicial branch alone can’t provide freedom to its constituents.  There must be a legislative branch to make the laws and an executive branch to enforce the laws.  This includes the President or chief executive, as well as the police.  In a less broadly defined society of the household, the parents play the roles of all three branches.  They, for instance, make the rules; such as establishing a ten o’clock curfew, they interpret the rules, and they enforce the rules.  Other specific societies include school and church, where teachers, principles, clergy, and board members fulfill these three important roles.  
It is possible to have a society with only a single law.  For instance, a society could function with only the law, “an eye for an eye”.  This would provide a punishment for any crime.  However, still such a society would still need a little judicial interpretation.  Another example of a single law society might be “do unto your neighbor as you would wish your neighbor to do unto you”.  This actually was one of the Ten Commandments, but could actually been the only commandment.  However, such a society would need much judicial interpretation.  A judge would need to consider what actions he would want a neighbor to take regarding his welfare.

by Michael K.

Athletic Budget

Due to a badly suffering athletic budget the University of Maryland is going to have to cut eight varsity sports.  This will bring their total number down to nineteen from twenty seven effective the end of this school year.  In my opinion, this is really a shame because a lot of athletes and coaches are going to be out of jobs/scholarships.  The sports that are going to be cut are: men’s cross country, tennis, swimming and diving, indoor track, and outdoor track.  Women’s sports that will be cut are water polo, acrobatics and tumbling, and swimming and diving.   
by Kris L.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Weight Loss

I go to a gym three to four times a week and get on a tread mill for about an hour and ten minutes.  Though I was exercising for about four months, I have only lost ten pounds because I like fast food. For the New Year I have a resolution to reduce fast food eating.  It helps that they have charts that show you how many calories the food has.  This is because Obama proposed a new batch of laws for menus.  Now restaurants with 20 or more locations are required to clearly post the calorie count for each item on their menus.  
The best way to lose weight is diet and exerisice.  I’ve learned that for women to lose weight, they need to eat sixteen hundred calories a day, for men to lose weight they need to eat eighteen hundred calories a day.  But you can’t forget you need to exercise 150 minutes a week.  It is important to do cardio workouts.  Once you’ve lost the weight, you can go to several websites to find information about how to maintain body weight.  They have charts on the FDA website that tell you how many calories to eat each day depending on if you are sedentary,  moderately active or active.
By Reed P.

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Spades


Spades is a card game for four players.  The players are divided into two teams of two persons each:  Each player sits across the table from his partner.  The game utilizes a standard fifty two card deck; however, the two jokers replace the two of diamonds and the two of hearts.  The two of diamonds and the two of hearts are discarded from the deck.  Both jokers are considered spades, and one joker is labeled the big joker, and the other joker is labeled the little joker.  The big joker is the highest spade; followed by the little joker, the two of spades, the Ace of spades; and the King, Queen, and Jack of spades.   Therefore, there are fifteen spades in a standard game of Spades.  The player to the dealer’s right “cuts” the cards, and next the dealer starts “dealing” to the person on his left.  Each player is dealt thirteen cards, until the cards in the deck of cards are exhausted.  After each player looks at the cards in his hand, each player arranges the cards by suit.  In each of the off suits, the Ace is the highest card, followed by the King, Queen, and Jack.

The bidding starts with the team adjacent to the dealer.  Of the thirteen books available to be won, one player on this team “bids” or “calls” the number of books that he estimates that he can win.  Then his partner makes his bid, and the two are totaled.  The individual bids are irrelevant:  Only the team bid is important.  Then the other team bids in the same manner.  Each team must estimate that they will win at least four books.  An estimate of four is the lowest legal bid possible, and a bid of four is known as a “board” bid.   After the bidding is completed either team may elect to increase their bid.  However, once a bid is made; it may not be decreased.
 
Play starts with the player to the left of the dealer “leads” the first card.  Play continues clockwise.  A player, if he has at least one card in the suit that is led, must play a card from the suit that is led.  If he does not have a card in the suit that his led then he may play any card.  If he plays a spade in this situation then he “trumps” the suit.  If no spade is played the highest card from the suit that was led wins the trick.  If at least one spade is played then the highest spade wins the book.  Once a spade has been played, a player may lead with a spade.  Until this point, a spade may not be led.  One is not forced to play a spade if he has no card in the suit that is led.   Spades is always the trump suit in a game of Spades.
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If a team fails to obtain at least their estimated book total then they are said to be “set”.  Any team that is set three times automatically loses the game.  If neither team is set three times then the team that reaches five hundred points first wins the game.  If both teams reach five hundred on the same hand then the team that has the highest score after that hand wins the game.  A team that is not set receives ten points for each book that they bid, but receives only one point for a trick that they did not bid.  If a team is set they lose ten times their bid.  If a team trails by at least one hundred points then that team may go blind in the subsequent hand.  However, going blind is risky, because the team that goes blind must bid before looking at their cards.  If they go blind then they receive double the number of points for each book bid.  If a team goes blind and is subsequently set then they lose only ten times their bid.  Anytime a team bids ten books then they receive two hundred points if they win ten tricks and one additional point for each trick above ten.

Bidding is an art and not a science:  It is impossible to know for certain the number of books that one can win.  Furthermore, the exact distribution of the cards is unknown to each player.    Aces and Kings in the off suits generally each win a trick, and a player should add a certain number of tricks or books for the spades in his hand.  If a player has a large number of spades and possesses a single card in one of the other suits then he should generally increase his bid by one book.  If he has no card in one of the off suits then he may generally add two books to his bid provided that he holds a sizable number of spades.  Queens sometimes also win a trick; particularly when the player possessing the queen has an ace or only two additional cards in the same suit as the Queen.   An unprotected King in one of the off suits generally does not lead to a “trick”.  If a player has a very small percentage of spades in his hand then he generally should underbid by one or possibly more tricks.  If a player holds numerous cards in one of the off suits then he should not count a King in that suit as a possible book.  None of these strategies are set in stone.  Each player must bid each hand differently depending on the cards in his hand and the score of the game.

Some strategies are nearly universal to all Spades games.  It is almost always a mistake to overtrump one’s partner; except when the player that overtrumps his partner has only spades in his hand.  Overtrumping occurs when a player leads a higher spade than a previously played spade when a card from an off suit is led.  It is also a mistake in general to play a spade when one’s partner plays the highest remaining card in an off suit.  If a player is the last to play then it is generally best for him to win the trick with the lowest card that the player can play that will win the trick for his team or to dump off the lowest losing card if his partner has the potential book won or if he can’t win the trick no matter what card he plays.  Of course, he must follow all of the rules of play when he discards.

In a serious game of Spades, one may only communicate with one’s partner by placing a “bid” on the number of books of cards that he expects to win with the cards in his hand.  Any other communication, other than by playing a card, is a breach of the rules.  For example, one may not communicate which cards have been played, who has played which card, or expose to their partner any of his cards.  Even a comment such as “I have a lot of a particular suit”, is a type of communication that is not permitted in Spades.  When a rule is broken generally a three book penalty is enforced.  Playing the wrong suit is also an obvious breach of the rules.  However, it is permitted to inform a player as to which suit has been “led”.  If you accuse an opponent wrongfully of playing out of suit, that generally also carries a three book penalty.  Most non-serious games avoid penalizing for trivial breaches in the rules.

Spades is a strategic game when played competitively; however, most of the more serious players compete in Bridge.  Bridge allows for a much more strategic bidding process; because in bridge, any of the four suits can be the trump suit in any particular hand.  In Spades, most hands are split rather evenly; allowing the better bidding team to accumulate more points.   However, few games are won with no sets; consequently, underbidding can sometimes be the most successful strategy.  This has the potential to ruin the strategic nature of the game.  To be successful at the card game called Spades, one must have both luck and skill.  The distribution of the cards greatly affects the outcome of any one particular hand.  Proper bidding and discarding can lead to success in the long-run.  One must combine strategy, concentration, and the ability to anticipate the play of his opponents and the play of his partner.  Luck plays a more important role than it otherwise would, because a team that believes that it will win less than four tricks must go “board”.  Bluffing when bidding can occasionally be a very successful strategy, but this form of bluffing must be done without breaching any of the stipulated rules of play.  The rules vary slightly from game to game
 
In some games, teams are penalized for overbidding; either by being set when winning two or more times the number of books bid or by receiving a penalty for accumulating ten points on tricks that are not bid.  Furthermore, sometimes when both teams bid a combined ten or less tricks the hand is not played out to completion, and each team receives ten times their bid.  Finally, if a player has no spades in his hand and also has no picture cards or Aces then he may call for a new deal.  However, these rules are not universal.