Mahjong Solitaire

Mahjong Solitaire is a kind of Mahjong game, also known as Shanghai Solitaire. Mahjong solitaire involves144 tiles that have beautiful designs and Chinese characters painted on them. The game requires skill, intelligence, estimation as well as luck. Mahjong, which literally means "the game of a hundred intelligences" in Chinese, has been traditionally used as a gambling game. Ma Chiao, Mo Tsiah, Ma Cheuk, Ma Jong, Ma Chiang, Ma Chong, Man Chu, Mah Diao, Pung Chow, Mah Chong, Ching Chong, Mah Cheuk, Ma Chiang, Kong Chow, Mah Deuck, Lung Chan, Mah Lowe, Pe Ling, Baak Ling are other names for Mahjong.

In mahjong solitaire, the tiles are stacked on top of each other in a four layer grid in a random order, all facing upwards. These have to be matched with each other and discarded as a pair. Only free tiles, or tiles that can be moved freely without disturbing the ones on the right or left, can be moved and matched. When each of the free tiles is matched with another free tile and removed from the stack, it exposes other tiles under them and makes them free and ready to be matched. The objective is to remove all the 144 tiles from the board. The game is over when all the tiles are gone or when there is no possibility for removing other tiles. This happens when no free tiles can be matched with each other.

The most common tiles are: the circle suit (contains circles), the bamboo suit (contains bamboos), character suit (Chinese characters representing ten thousand coins each), wind tiles (representing north, south, east and west), dragon tiles (red, green and white) flower tiles (containing art work). These tiles are of 34 kinds, in five different suits or designs: wan, circle, bamboo, wind and prime and 8 flower tiles.

Mahjong solitaire can be played solo or with another player. While playing with another player, the winner accumulates the maximum number of pairs or is the last one to match a pair. There are electronic versions of mahjong solitaire available. These can be purchased or they are also available for free download on the Internet. Mahjong solitaire can also be played online with other online players or with the computer. The earliest electronic version was created in 1981 by Brodie Lockard but it was officially released in 1983 by Control Data Corporation as a paid online game. The 1986 version released by Activision by the name of Shanghai made the game very popular was converted into many platforms.

Preparing to Lay Your New Wooden Floor

Due to the nature of real wood such as oak it is a living and breathing product. It will expand and contract depending on its environment. A new wood floor looks fantastic but it is always best to ensure it stays looking pristine for years to come. The way to do this is to make sure the preparation for laying the flooring is done correctly, along with a common knowledge of the small issues that can happen with real wood floors.

Solid flooring has a tendency to expand and contract. In summer, when the air is more humid due to the house being aired more often - the boards soak up the extra moisture and tend to expand slightly. In winter, when central heating / underfloor heating are used regularly, the air in the house is very dry therefore resulting in the boards drying and contracting - this often creates gaps appearing between boards - often large enough to put a coin between. These are harmless and disappear in the warmer months when heating is not used in the house as often.

When hardwood flooring gets wet or damp it absorbs the moisture and expands to accommodate this extra moisture. This can often happen even if the room does not feel damp or wet - the humidity in the air can also affect the floor. Before laying a wooden floor in is essential to check that the room is dry and the sub floor contains no extra moisture. It is also best to check the moisture content of the flooring before installing. However the sub floor is the most important thing to check before installing as this will affect the floor if it is not the correct moisture levels.

Where an existing timber subfloor is present, this needs to be checked for wet rot, dry rot and for woodworm. Although these are not commonplace it is always best to check existing floors before laying down your new wood floors which can get ruined by rot or woodworm. It is always best to ensure that the existing boards are also securely fastened to the joists as they will cause creaking if not fitted well. Loose timber boards can be screwed down onto the joists - or additional noggins can be placed between the joists if an old board has been cut in the wrong place and is loose.

When nailing down onto the existing flooring, the boards should be laid at 90 degrees to the sub floor. This ensures maximum stability and strength in the floor. (As an example consider a jenga game where all the blocks are placed on top of each other in the same direction - it is extremely unstable). If you are wanting the boards to be laid in the same direction as the sub floor a layer of plywood can be placed and nailed or screwed down to ensure a stable fit of the new wood flooring.

There are additional precautions to take where a screed or concrete sub floor is present. New concrete dries at a rate of 1 inch per month or 1mm per day. Although the concrete can look and feel dry to the touch, it can often still contain more moisture than the recommended amounts for hardwood flooring. The best way to check is to use a moisture meter - this will give you an instant reading and tell you whether you need to leave it to dry for longer.

If the new wood floor is an engineered floor that is being laid as a floating floor then it is possible to lay an extra layer of damp proof membrane (DPM) over the concrete / screed to ensure no moisture reaches the wood floor however if the floor is being glued down to the subfloor or battened out it would not be possible to lay the DPM, however a liquid DPM or epoxy resin can be used to create a liquid barrier instead. As solid wood floors are recommended to be stuck down to the sub floor it is best to glue solid wood floors down to the concrete directly therefore it is essential that the moisture is checked before laying.

With all wood flooring, an expansion gap must be left around the edge to ensure there is room for expansion in case of problems with moisture. This can be covered with skirting, beading or an edge profile. When preparation for the sub floor has been completed correctly, the laying of the wood floor is more likely to fit properly and without problems for the future.

Game Theory - Or How Playing by the Rules Results in Defeat

When it comes to almost every element of life, there is a tragic reality that playing by the rules isn't going to lead you to victory. It's a tough lesson that we try and teach children the opposite of, but unfortunately, it quickly becomes evident that it is the case. The reason for this challenge is that even if you are willing to play by the rules, there is always someone going against you who is willing to break them.

The challenge here lies in a similar problem that is seen in interrogations of criminals. When you place two criminals in separate interrogations, each one will fear that the other is going to rat them out. As a result, each criminal will rat out the other so that they are not the only one losing. In much the same way, many people, in fear that their opponents are not playing by the rules, will also not play by the rules.

This problem becomes a circular challenge. By fearing that your opponents won't play by the rules, you yourself won't play by the rules, thereby validating the same fears in them. However, strategy-wise, cheating offers the best course of results. If you cheat and your opponent doesn't, you have an increased chance of winning. If you don't cheat but your opponent does, you have a decreased chance of winning. Finally, if you both cheat, you have an equal chance of things turning out well for you.

As a result, it seems the harsh reality of things is that playing by the rules simply doesn't benefit you. To optimize your performance, it is ideal to break the rules, as there are no circumstances in which this can penalize your performance.