sorted() erraticly fails to sort string numbers

[John Posner]

uuid wrote:
> I am at the same time impressed with the concise answer and 
> disheartened by my inability to see this myself.
> My heartfelt thanks!
Don't be disheartened! Many people -- myself included, absolutely! -- 
occasionally let a blind spot show in their messages to this list. BTW:

    container[:] = sorted(container, key=getkey)

... is equivalent to:

    container.sort(key=getkey)

(unless I'm showing *my* blind spot here)