Friday, October 31, 2008

Kickass video



Originally posted on Black and Right with H/T Instapundit,

Be back later - time for kiddie trick-or-treating.

Boo

funny pictures of cats with captions
more animals

About that FTOPS

Know how I was thinking of trying to satellite into a FTOPS event? Like, about 90 minutes ago?

Mission accomplished...

unless I unregister and take the $T.


It's the $100 rebuy event - and I don't have a roll like that, so I might take the $T after all. It's on a Saturday at 4 PM, so I'm not entirely sure about it yet. I kinda like weekends and family time - and it might be difficult to do family stuff while chained to a computer.

At least I can knock one goal off my list for the year, of playing in one of these, if I do it.

UPDATE: Awfuckit, I unregistered. I'll use it to play a bunch more satellites and build the $T balance up, maybe to play in one of the other events.

BACK OFF

Really - the three strong bets are a hint to go away, because the way I'm playing this, there are only four hands I could have.

Really.

GET OFF ME.

Full Tilt Poker Game #8739911888: Table Deerfoot - $0.50/$1 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:05:00 ET - 2008/10/31
Seat 1: dibidends226 ($28.30)
Seat 2: MarqDW ($100)
Seat 3: GIVINcashAWAY ($142.05)
Seat 4: Rivma ($38.05)
Seat 5: Unluckytwo ($39)
Seat 6: Parasurama ($184.80)
Seat 7: APOSEC72 ($47.05)
Seat 8: ZManChoo ($82.55)
Seat 9: niczek ($127.85)

Unluckytwo posts the small blind of $0.50
Parasurama posts the big blind of $1
niczek posts a dead small blind of $0.50
niczek posts $1
MarqDW posts $1
The button is in seat #4

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to APOSEC72 [Qs Qd]
APOSEC72 raises to $6 (UTG, 5x...maybe I'm stealing, maybe I'm not)
ZManChoo folds
niczek has 15 seconds left to act
niczek calls $5 (OK, defend the blind for now.)
dibidends226 folds
MarqDW folds
GIVINcashAWAY folds
Rivma folds
Unluckytwo folds
Parasurama folds

*** FLOP *** [7s Ts 4h]
APOSEC72 bets $10 (I feel good and you should fold, I know you haven't got much)
niczek calls $10 (Sigh)

*** TURN *** [7s Ts 4h] [2d]
APOSEC72 bets $31.05, and is all in (YOU SHOULD FOLD NOW.)
niczek calls $31.05 (Silly rabbit)
APOSEC72 shows [Qs Qd]
niczek shows [As 3s] Flush--chasing donkey strikes)

*** RIVER *** [7s Ts 4h 2d] [Qc] (OK, that's a bit much.)
APOSEC72 shows three of a kind, Queens
niczek shows Ace Queen high
APOSEC72 wins the pot ($94.10) with three of a kind, Queens

Strangely, he folded to me every...single...time I was in a hand for the rest of the session.

I might keep doing this for a while, it's three sessions in a row that I've bought in super-short and finished up significantly.

Perhaps I should consider playing in FTOPS after all.

NAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH...........

Thursday, October 30, 2008

GOTV for the ticked-off Left

Yesterday, I posted a thread about GOTV this weekend which was hosted at Ace's.

Now, I'll do one from the left side of the sphere, but with the same intent.

A large group of 70 HillBuzz people (Hillary Clinton primary supporters) is heading to Ohio to stump for McCain/Palin. Normally, I wouldn't have much to do with Hillary supporters, and vice versa, but over the last couple of months we've realized on both sides that we can come together for the big battles.

Like this one.

Go to their page, view the thread, and sign up to go or to donate.

Yes, I just posted a link for you to donate to Clinton supporters.

No, there are not any pigs flying around outside.

We're together on a big battle - we'll fight the smaller battles later, which I think both sides might agree with.

Go check it out. It's now almost tied in those battleground states, or has flipped slightly red - every bit makes a difference.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Get Out the Vote


Match-up thread for GOTV efforts at Ace of Spades. Most of you - be it poker folk, NY folk, Emory folk, or other folk - are reasonable close to a swing state or in a swing state - FL, PA, OH, NV, even VA - so go over there to get linked up or offer to help.
There might be something more now, but this is a start. Grassroots, baby.

Time to go viral. Pennsylvania is tied. Florida is a two-point race. Nevada is trending redder. It is a three-point race nationally. Virginia and Ohio are still close enough to fight.
I can't travel, but I will be at the Cherokee GOP headquarters Saturday manning the phone banks, both for Georgia and other states.
Go. Do your part as well.

More video (skeletons) from the past (closet)

Just a fella from the neighborhood.

Your chance in a poll, right now

Who is getting your vote for President on Nov. 4?
Barack Obama
John McCain
Bob Barr
Cynthia McKinney
Other
Not Sure
pollcode.com free polls
If the poll doesn't come through in a reader, then click through to answer and view results.

Taxman in the Casino

H/t to That's Me on the Left, one of the PUMA sites I've added to my reader list upon seeing they also posted about the Sarah Palin mannequin in a noose story - I linked it on Facebook, but didn't publish it here, so go there to read about it.

I'm also including a link to Democrats for Principle Before Party, with a link I haven't written about but one which they have an interesting take.

This is a long video, but you do not need any sound for it.

December WPBT

I anyone is looking for a way to head to the blogger gathering in December, you could try the Monte Carlo - rates start at $59 plus a bunch of free stuff, and it's slightly better than a sleazy dive off the Strip.

The rate is valid from Dec. 4 through Dec. 13.

The Winter WPBT is Dec. 12 through Dec. 14.

For a story as to why cowboys and poker make for good times, click here.

I'm sure there are others, but they haven't sent me anything, and the Monte Carlo did.

My classes end Dec. 11.

Offer details below:

Monte Carlo Resort and Casino - Las Vegas, Nevada
*************************************************************
Because ropin and ridin aren't the only forms of R&R.

No matter what your plans are for NFR December 4-13,Monte Carlo puts you at the center of it all. Discover great fun at Diablo's Cantina and great food at BRAND Steakhouse plus live feeds of all the NFR action.

Book now and receive:

  • Two complimentary buffets
  • Two house margaritas at Diablo's
  • $30 Spa services credit
  • Two complimentary spa passes
  • $10 Slot FREEPLAY(R)Food court coupons

Fly, drive or ride. Just get here for NFR. For more information,visit http://click.mgg01.net/t/5403362/163250848/12333147/0/ or call 888.448.8958 and mention the Cowboy offer.

Spreadsheets take a lot of time

No, this is not the work of me trying to break Microsoft Excel last week. But damn, I wish I had the idea.

BoDonkey - Register NOW


7 minutes to go. Register now on BoDog and play.

Go. Now.

LIVEBLOG TIME?: We're starting with 43 tonight, at my table...ICrushBloggers, MiamiDon, Drizzdtj, StB, and Rizen three to my right. Not sure who Chesscake, Siloc, and Pikito are, but, um, hi.

30 minutes in, and we have lost one player, Roland_Deschain. Haven't seen that name before, but again, hi. And bye, I guess. Did not catch the hand because BoDog doesn't let me have 5 open tables at once.

Break #1, 10:05: We have 37 left. We'll pick up a bit after we hit four tables. Gone so far: Roland_Deschain, Riggs, vegaskarl, Jordon, Siloc, and SnappyLC. StB is the chip leader at this statistically insignificant stage.

I sit with 1815, down from the starting 2500, because I am channeling my inner donkey at the moment.

If I don't have your link above, leave it in the comments.

10:13: I channel my inner donkey and double up against ICrushBloggers while screwing around and turning a straight.

10:14: Down to 36 - Sed the Icon goes down and Goat Rodeo follows almost immediately.

10:13: Mofo69 in 35th, Drizzdtj 34th, Chesscake in 33rd.

10:20: Hi BuddyDank.

10:24: Donkette's out in 32nd after running A-3 into A-A of 23Skidoo.

10:27: A-J v. 10-10, and the board spits out 7-5-4-6-3 for a chop. MiamiDon, owner of the A-J: "is this FTP?

10:30: CarnePicante out in 31st.

10:31: Dank doubles off IHoyBloggers and is thoroughly amused. Amused enough to RickRoll. Bastard.

10:33: OW. ICrushBloggers flops a set of sevens and all of Miami Don's chips are in with an OESD. Don turns the straight...and Hoy rivers a boat. GG Don, out in 30th. Ouch.

10:38: I take a medium pot from Rizen. He's down to 2000, I'm over 4000. Folks, if you want that bounty, you better go for it now.

10:39: Emptyman out in 29th, and Rizen doubles up of StB with pocket Kings against A-Q.

10:46: cbags is out - I'm not sure what, because the table disappeared too fast. We're at 3 tables now. Dank is still stuck to Rizen's right at my table and is complaining vociferously in between shots (I hope)

10:49: Hammer versus cowboys no good, and ICrushBloggers is OUT in 27th. WilWonka just rocketed up to 15K in chips.

10:55: RecessRampage's A-9 falls to A-K, out in 26th. WilWonka is dominating my table with his 16,000 chips - let's break, please? He takes out Pikito for 25th.

11:04: I'm a donk by losing 2/3 of my stack with A-Q v. A-A. Nh, yestbay1.

11:05: Double back up with K-10, then push on next hand. From 992 to 2734. Not dead yet. Lightning36, though, is dead and out in 24th. So is TonySoprano (23), TRexRoar (22), and StB (21).

11:09: MemphisMojo out in 20th after pushing a short stack. BuddyDank out in 19th after pushing K-10 to wilwonka's A-4. Down to 2 tables.

11:10: On the lst hand before the break, wilwonka gets another knockout, this of MondoGarage.

So, we are at 17. Here are the counts:

wilwonka:28066.50 (Obscene lead right now)
Columbo777: 12068
sTONe10: 11617.50
23skidoo: 8602
PokahDave: 8371
smokkee: 5880
CEMfromMD: 5085
yestbay1: 4585
Newinov: 3965
raisydaisy22: 3345
BrainMc: 2697.50
APOSEC72: 2484
Rizen: 2406
AskDrL: 2355
Bayne_S: 2235
pokerpeaker: 1597.50


11:17: BrainMc falls victim to Presto in 16th.

11:20: Rizen doubles up thru Raisy Daisy with JackAce against Q-3. No bounty for you.

11:22: Wislim is out in 16th. I'm pretty short right now and completely card-dead.

11:23: RaisyDaisy gets the bounty with Presto! Nice job LJ. Rizen out in 15th.

11:30: wilwonka is over 30,000. The next closest is 11,000.

11:31: Bayne is out in 14th, and Pokerpeaker's K-10 goes down to K-J - 10 on flop, but J on river, out in 13th. I think we are now in the points.

11:33: My Q-2 is good enough as a micro stack, now I'm just a short stack.

11:37: smokkee is out in 12th after A-5 falls to 6-6 on a K-Q-J-Q-2 board. Newinov is up to 14K.

11:39: My Q-J suited falls to rockets. I'm out in 11th. We are at the final table bubble.

11:41: wilwoknka takes out PokahDave with AK v. AQ and we have a final table.

wilwonka: 36981.50
Newinov: 13935
23skidoo :11849.50
raisydaisy22: 11072
columbo777: 9718
sTONe10: 8384
AskDrL: 8955
CEMfromMD: 4680
yestbay1: 1926
We are also at the first money bubble. 6-8 get their buyin back. 9th gets nothing but points.

11:43: yestbay is out in 9th. Next three out get their buy-in back.

11:46: wilwonka continues to scare everyone, he is over 40,000 chips.

11:53: CEMfromMD sucks out with a J-8 vs. skidoo's 8-8 when he makes a flush on the river. He is still the short stack with about 4500 chips.

11:54: Almost allin preflop. Skidoo's A-K doubles up thru RaisyDaisy's 8-7. Both of them now have about 13K in chips.

11:55: RaisyDaisy takes some chips from wilwonka with a preflop push. Wilwonka is now around 36K in chips - still way ahead, but slightly tighter after RaisyDaisy does it again against sTONe10 and goes over 20K.

11:58: CEMfromMD: QQ, sTONe10: 10-10, all-in preflop. Queens hold up, sTONe10 is crippled and out in 8th on the next hand with 10-3 v. Kings.

12:03: Skidoo folds to a raise from wilwonka, is under 10K while wilwonka is back over 42K.

12:04: LJ raises, columbo pushes, LJ folds. Columbo 13K, LJ 19K. Approaching the 3rd break, wil the bigger money bubble break before the next break?

12:06: The table needs Viagra as four limpers see the rainbow flop of K-2-6. Newinov bets and everyone scurries away.

12:08: AskDrL picks up A-6 with a micro stack and doubles up to 8400 thru LJ (14K).

12:14: Skidoo cripples Newinov with pocket rockets against J-9, top pair on the flop. Knocked out by wilwonka and finishes 7th.

12:16: LJ is all in with 2-2 v. wilwonka's A-J preflop, and the ace on the river knocks her out in 6th. We're at the break and here are the counts:

wilwonka: 68,076
23skidoo: 13,728
Columbo777: 13,343
CEMfromMD: 7,245
AskDrL: 5,108

12:23: We're up to 500/1000/100, so this may not go much longer.

12:24: CEMfromMD has Aces, AskDrL has 4's, and wilwonka has 9's. Aces win. AskDrL is 5th. wilwonka has 63K and the other 3 stacks are all around 15K.

12:25: Skidoo pushes A-9 and it holds up against wilwonka's A-5. Skidoo moves to 30K, wilwonka down to 48K.

12:26: Skidoo takes another medium pot, up to 35K.

12:28: CEMfromMD's 10's hold up against wilwonka's A-Q. wilwonka is down to 35K and CEMfromMD is up to 24K. Folks, we got a match again.

12:29: NEW CHIPLEADER: Skidoo moves over 40K.

12:30: Skidoo takes out Columbo in 4th with AA v. AQ. Down to 3, Skidoo 54K, wilwonka 27K, CEMfromMD 23K.

12:31: CEMfromMD gets royally sucked out when the A-J falls to J-3 with two threes on the flop. Out in 3rd, we are heads-up; Skidoo 78K, wilwonka 26K.

12:33: Skidoo tries to close it out with the hammer, and almost gets there with a 2 on the flop until wilwonka's A-5 finds a 5. Skidoo 53K, Wilwonka 54K.

12:34: wilwonka 58K, Skidoo 48K.

12:36: wilwonka 63K, Skidoo 45K.

12:37: Slow-building pot, 10-10-a-8-k board with 4 diamonds, river bet wins it for Skidoo. Skidoo 60K, wilwonka 47K.

12:40: 3-7-8-2 rainbow board, decent-sized pot taken down by Skidoo, who is up to 78K.

12:41: Skidoo wins with K-10 v. 9-7, is up 89K to 18K.

12:42: It's over - Skidoo's A-10, holds up against A-4, and wilwonka finishes 2nd as Skidoo makes an impressive comeback to take down the first BoDonkey, first place money, the casino credit, and five kilos of blow.

Nicely done, and see you at the next edition of the Bodog Blogger Tournament!

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Obama Compares America to Nazi Germany

The audio recording of Barack Obama espousing his socialist philosophy of “redistribution of wealth” is all over the Internet and Fox News today (although the other media outlets are ignoring it), but there’s another disturbing section on that tape that has so far escaped notice.

About fifteen minutes in, is this even more outrageous quote (UPDATE: link was removed earlier, but now it is back.):


"(J)ust to take a, sort of a realist perspective...there’s a lot of change going
on outside of the Court, um, that, that judges essentially have to take judicial
notice of. I mean you’ve got World War II, you’ve got uh, uh, uh, the doctrines
of Nazism, that, that we are fighting against, that start looking uncomfortably
similar to what we have going on, back here at home.”


Sen. Obama compares the U.S. to Nazi Germany, in a campaign where his harassers have employed intimidation tactics that would make the Gestapo proud.

How much is enough before voters see his policies and beliefs for what they truly are?

read more digg story

Correcting the timeline

H/t to Nice Deb for the Biden pwnage.

A letter to the editor from Bishop Mahooly of Wilmington, DE - the diocese of Sen. Biden. Reprinted here, in its entirety,

In his interview with The News Journal published Oct. 19, Sen. Joe Biden presents a seriously erroneous picture of Catholic teaching on abortion. He said, “I know that my church has wrestled with this for 2,000 years,” and claimed repeatedly that the Church has a nuanced view of the subject that leaves a great deal of room for uncertainty and debate.

This is simply incorrect. The teaching of the Church is clear and not open to debate. Abortion is a grave sin because it is the wrongful taking of an innocent human life. The Church received the tradition opposing abortion from Judaism. In the Greco-Roman world, early Christians were identifiable by their rejection of the common practices of abortion and infanticide.

The Didache, probably the earliest Christian writing apart from the New Testament, explicitly condemns abortion without exceptions. It tells us there is a “way of life” and a “way of death” and abortion is a part of the way of death. This has been the consistent teaching of the Church ever since.

It was also the position of Protestant reformers without exception. It was the teaching of Pope John XXIII as well as Pope John Paul II. It is the teaching of Pope Benedict XVI and the bishops of the Church, including me as shepherd of this diocese.
Some ancient and medieval theologians did see a difference between early abortions and ones that occurred later in term because with the limited medical knowledge of the time they did not know then what we scientifically know now: that a fetus is a living human being from conception.

Nevertheless, they universally condemned all abortions.

Of course, we now know that a fetus is a living human being from the very start. Thus, abortions take innocent human lives no matter when they occur. Since there is no gradation in the Church’s teaching on abortion, there is no way the medically obsolete division of pregnancy into three trimesters by Roe v. Wade can have any bearing on the rightness or wrongness of abortion. Taking an innocent life in the womb is wrong at any stage of pregnancy.

The Declaration of Independence lists life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as God-given rights. Life is listed first, and it is the principal function of the state to protect the lives of citizens. This understanding of the state’s primary obligation to protect human life is also fundamental to Catholic social doctrine to which the senator points. Without life all other rights are meaningless.

This Sunday, all the parishes in the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington will pray the Litany of St. Thomas More, martyr and patron saint of statesmen, politicians and lawyers. We will ask St. Thomas More to intercede so all statesmen and politicians may be courageous and effective in their defense and promotion of the sanctity of human life. We hope Sen. Biden will carefully listen to the Church’s 2,000 years of testimony on abortion and that he will join in the defense and promotion of the sanctity of life.

-Most Rev. W. Francis Malooly, bishop, Catholic Diocese of Wilmington

Feed finally fixed

Finally, back to one feed:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/GNzo

with all the other stuff included.

What a headache, for something so simple.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Only 1 more day to the BoDonkey return

Don't Miss Tuesday's Bodog Poker Blogger Tournament!

Start Time 9:05 pm ET on October 28, 2008.

Think you have what it takes to bust out a poker pro?

On Tuesday October 28th, 2008 professional poker player and author, Eric "Rizen"
Lynch,
will compete in the Bodog Blogger Tournament Series.

There will be a $75 bounty on Eric's head and the poker blogger who takes Eric's
last chips in this tournament will receive a $75 credit to their Bodog member
player account. This blogger will also receive a signed copy of Eric's book,
Winning Poker Tournaments One Hand at a Time. If Eric wins this tournament, he
will give the $75 credit to the poker blogger that places 1st runner up. That
player will then receive the credit of $75 to his or her account.

This blogger tournament series is open to poker bloggers world wide and runs on
Tuesday and Thursday evenings at 9:05 pm ET.

More details available at the official blogger series site at
http://www.bodogbloggertournament.com

If you are new to Bodog, please sign up at
http://www.bodoglife.com/promotions/poker/blogger-tournament/


So what are you waiting for?

Register today and may the best poker blogger take the bulls eye on Eric "Rizen"
Lynch!

Enter the Matrix

A few other folks have written about the new Matrix tournaments, which is basically a Sit-n-Go for folks with ADHD.

It's the same 9 players, seated in a tournament at four different tables. The buy-in is split in five - 20% for each table, and 20% for the overall standings. It spreads out the variance a bit, and lets you multi-table for less.

For example, take a $5 tourney. It's broken up into four $1 tables, and the fifth dollar goes to the overall prize pool to be broken to the top three point earners across all the tables.

So, it kind of diversifies the risk and limits the downside, for those folks wary of the one-time bad beat. Now, if you get that at one table, you can hunt them down at the other three tables.

One drawback is that it might limit the upside in some cases.

Unless you're me. - The screen shot shows nothing for Table 1, 1st on 2 and 4, and a 2nd on 3; this led to an overall 1st.

I might start to like these. Or, maybe Full Tilt turned off the doom switch for one night.

Map

I hope this prediction is at least somewhat close. Based on how some of the battleground state polls are going, it's possible. Considering that either McCain or Palin will be in Pennsylvania and Ohio nonstop for the next eight days and how much those states have tightened, it is possible.

Let's all hope it is right. I just hate that it may come down to Florida...AGAIN.

Of course, if I'm wrong, then it happened as most people expected this election to happen.

But if I'm right, I get to gloat about it - which at this point, is probably about a 20% chance.

PredictNovember.com

Successful Making Strides Walk


On Saturday, over 12,000 people showed up at Atlantic Station to participate in the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk. The event started at 9 AM - and naturally, I rolled into the parking deck at around 8:57 AM, but thankfully was still able to glide through the walk pretty easily.

Emerson had a team of about 15 people (including myself) participating in the event. Bank of America was also one of the primary sponsors, and I saw an old coworker at the walk to catch up a bit on old times and how things were going, and I'm glad volunteer efforts are still going strong even after I left.
Karyn Greer of NBC 11Alive and Scott Slade of WSB Radio were also on hand for the event.

The Emerson team had set a team goal of $2,500 for the event. I'm glad to say that with your help, we actually raised over $3,000 for the event. While our personal goal levels don't show it, we did have a lot of team gifts that raised the total above our cumulative goal.

Overall, the 12,000 participants raised over $900,000 for breast cancer research.

This is my thanks to you for helping and donating - we all really appreciate it. Of course, if you did not get the chance to donate, but would still like to, you may still click here to donate online to the American Cancer Society.

Guest pics

Pictoral humor on a Monday.


Kim found this one. It's funny, though some of the pictures at the bottom are a bit....erg.

Even the Rosie photoshop.
Note: we did not create this and would credit the original user, if it hadn't gone through e-mail instead of posts.


Sunday, October 26, 2008

Tragedy



Redistribution of Wealth?

Not radical enough?

His words, not mine.

And yes, you are showing your bias.

Friday, October 24, 2008

I get lucky sometimes


Last November, I almost went to work for Alpha Bank & Trust, a new bank in Alpharetta. I was within one step of getting the job, with a big bump from where I was at Bank of America, when it fell through on some technicalities.

Well, I guess in the long run I ended up on the better end of the deal, because Alpha Bank & Trust was seized by the FDIC today, and all of its assets were transferred to Stearns Bank in Minnesota.

Yep, I would have been laid off today due to a bank failure if I had ended up in that job (which I really was looking forward to), with less than a year of service.

Sometimes, I guess things do work out after all! I do feel bad for them, though, but at the same time I can't help but feel extremely lucky somehow that things went the way they did.

FEED ME!

So, right now, I think I've got it narrowed down to two semi-correct feeds compared to eight or nine jumbled feeds.


Sometimes, I really hate Google. In this case, because they own Feedburner.


Anyway, here are the correct feeds:


1. http://feedproxy.google.com/FrancasePlace - seems to catch most subscribers, but not all the page views

2. http://feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/GNzo - the exact opposite of #1

I've tried navigating through the code so they all read the same, yet still it does not seem to work.

Between battling this and battling horribly in my Thursday night programming class, I think I need to step away from writing any code, applet, servlet, bean, or script for a day or two.

That will be amazingly easy tomorrow, between the Making Strides walk, lector training at church, and an OktoberFest festival all on Saturday. As for today, I have a meeting scheduled with my advisor regarding that dreaded Thursday class which has been absolutely horrendous so far this semester.

I think I might be getting close to a burnout stage.

Thank God the BoDonkey is kicking back up to allow me to focus on something a little more fun.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Burning and Summing

I've turned off summary for now, and I'm trying to figure out how to best fix the feeds.

Thursdays royally suck.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

American Socialism or Chinese Democracy


I've spent enough posts talking about the bailouts, spending, and other nationalizations efforts going on in this country that worry me.

Some people may have thought we would see socialism in America before we would ever see Chinese democracy. Or, for that matter, actual democracy in China.

Well, they missed by a few weeks for America but with Hong Kong moving to china, that boat sailed a long time ago.

Nevertheless, released today, for your listening pleasure, was a new single from, of all bands, Guns 'N' Roses.

It is the lead track from an album scheduled for release on November 24.

Chinese Democracy - Guns N Roses

Yep, 17 years after the release of Use Your Illusion, there is going to finally be another original album from Guns 'N' Roses. Well, 1/6 of them, since Axl chased everyone else out of the band and replaced everyone with people we've never heard of or could hold a candle to Slash, Duff, and Izzy.

Enjoy the new track, Chinese Democracy, from the album called, er, Chinese Democracy.

Folks, THIS is how I want to bang out my 1,000th post. Seems like I just started this yesterday!

Breaking down the Georgia Amendments

Georgia Congressional Oversight Examiner: Breaking down the Georgia Amendments

Three amendments this year on an otherwise busy ballot.

Posted using ShareThis

Top 5 Offended Religions by Video Games

In the wake of Little Big Planet's recall we rundown five more religions that should have a beef with videogames.

read more | digg story

The Pace Quickens, Hurtling to Graduation

Right now, I'm think I'm sitting on two A's and one HUH? for this semester. My Thursday class could be anywhere from an A- to a really crappy grade at the moment. I have no idea.

Registration opened today, and after some initial difficulty I was able to get the classes I was hoping to get:

BCOM 8250: Effective Executive Communication (elective)
MBA 8820: Global Competitive Strategy (req)
FI 8000: Valuation of Financial Assets (elective)
CIS 8100: Management of Information Services (req)

These are the last four classes I need to take before graduating in May - assuming I don't drop dead of exhaustion first. All my classes are Monday and Wednesday classes, so at least I won't have to worry about back-to-back nights of classes next term.

I also won't have to watch American Idol results shows, so I guess that could be a positive point as well.

Donkey takedown

One of the pokah bloggahs takes down a major score...

Columbo took down the $24K on Full Tilt, go wish him well but wait a day or two before begging for a dime.

It's always nice to see one of us take down a big score like that.

BOOM!

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

The New Deck

Go to The Voice In My Head for the latest deck of cards.

For those who don't remember, there was a deck published at the beginning of the Iraqi war to show the Iraqi Most Wanted.

Well, now we've got another deck - targeting folks behind the subprime and financial mess.

Card one: Sen. Chris Dodd, chair of the Senate Banking Committee for Fannie & Freddie contributions, former presidential candidate, and all-around sleazy guy thanks to his awkward tightness to companies he's supposed to monitor.



Card two: Sen. Chuck Schumer, also on the Senate Banking Committee, related to IndyMac's collapse earlier this year and setting off a panic.


Check in daily to collect the whole set.

Phone fling

Last week, I wrote that I needed a new phone. For the past few years, I've used a pretty simple Nokia phone, and it's served me pretty well despite getting banged, thrown, dropped, chewed, and lost repeatedly.

I wasn't looking for much last time I went phone-shopping. Texting and basic phone needs were enough for me.

That was in 2003. In 2008, I'm looking for something a bit more complex. One of the phones I've started looking at is the Nokia N96, released just last month, which I can use with my current T-Mobile service if I wished.

The N96 has a lot of the features that I've decided I'd like to have in a new phone - full-service browser, GPS, 5-megapixel camera, video upload and connections to Google Accounts, and an RSS reader. So, I could theoretically spend all day trying to read the thousand or so posts y'all do each day while also trying to write to each of the three sites I'm actively writing for as well as all the case studies I do for school. The swing-out keyboard would help significantly.

I'd like for the next phone I get to be a pretty smart phone in terms of what I can do with it, and this appears to be a possibility since I could also keep my current account without having to switch providers (which probably wouldn't be too bad, but it's one less thing to worry about.

Georgia Congressional Oversight Examiner: Early voting in Georgia

Georgia Congressional Oversight Examiner: Early voting in Georgia

Lines at the Whitlock Avenue are routinely over a 90 minute wait.

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Full of Material

Thanks Joe!



Memo to Joe: KEEP TALKING! We love Joe!

The gaffes of Joe the Senator along with the media harassment of Joe the Plumber seem to be opening a lot of eyes.

Amazingly, he's not scheduled for any more press conferences, while Gov. Palin is doing several per day mentioning such gaffes as she does above.

And folks wonder why the polls are growing tighter and tighter - and if this is also true along with this recent development, then perhaps the 10-1 shot might come through after all.

A marathon, not a sprint

According to the site, there are other track-sounding events that might be interesting.

Some are the Pole in the Vault, Clean and Jerk, and Shot Putting.

Overall, though....THAT'S JUST WRONG. I'm not referencing any of the other "events".

I imagine most folks will wait until 2010 for the Winter Games in Vancouver, instead of going to the Sex Olympia in Australia in 2009. (THOROUGHLY NSFW!!!)

H/t to eddiebear - and I don't want to know how much time he spends finding all this weird crap.

Braves Booth Shakeup




Press conference at 3:30.


And the last of the old guard has faded away.

Peekaboo Fail


Behold, the mighty stallion, who gallops across the land, a mighty being that thunders across the...



H/t eddiebear.

Monday, October 20, 2008

BoDog Blogger Tournament Returns


I wrote last week that the BoDonkey would be returning.

Well, now most of the details are available for you.

The BoDog Blogger Tournament will return on Tuesday, October 28 at 9:05 PM Eastern time.

When it ran in the Spring, it was only on Tuesday nights - but this season, you will have TWO chances per week to donk it up, as there will be tournaments on Tuesday AND Thursday nights.

There will be standings kept throughout the fifteen tournament that comprise the series, and to be considered for some additional special priZes, you can click onto BoDog's registration page. You only have to do it once for the series.

Special prizes, you ask?

How about:

  • Tourney dollar overlays for the top three spots in each tournaments (109, 75, and 50), and $11 tourney for the three bubble players.
  • A Leaderboard throughout the series for an end-of-series Tournament of Champions, with a prize pool of $3,000 for the top 15% on the tourney leaderboard (TLB)
  • $25 Casino credits for each tournament winner
  • The first special guest, on Oct. 28, will be Eric "Rizen" Lynch. No word on who the others might be yet or what may happen.
  • A Last chance tournament, if you've played in three or more tournaments but have fallen short on the ending TLB, you get one more chance..
Here is the complete set of rules.

This was the one series I really began looking forward to each week - it started earlier and it didn't conflict with school. I'm looking forward to doing all of the Tuesday tournaments, at least. Thursday might be more difficult, as playing a tournament while in class might not go over so well.

See you there!

They tried to make me go to rehab


A Chinese elephant that spent three years in rehab after animal smugglers laced his bananas with heroin will never be able to return to the wild.

Heroin in bananas? That's a wee bit on the sick side.

Atlanta Games Examiner: Hallowed Fun

Atlanta Games Examiner: Hallowed Fun

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Beer City Poker: Doesn't sound fair to me

Beer City Poker: Doesn't sound fair to me

Y'all will probably appreciate reading this. Well, most of you.

Clown Collage in Haiku Form


"This is just so wrong.

And yet, I link to it still.

It's Naked Clown Time!"

editor's note: Jesus, I fucking hate clowns. They creep me out about as badly as Cartman gets creeped out by hippies.

Thank God it's for charity, but this post makes me feel.......uurrrggghhh, eewwwww.

H/t RightWingSparkle and I don't want to know how she found out about it.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Go to second base


Today is apparently National Mammography Day, so by all means, go out and get felt up, even if you are under 40, as part of Breast Cancer Awareness. Even without insurance, it's a fairly inexpensive exam, but can be worth much more.


We now return you to your regularly scheduled crassness.

Joe Biden Can't Count

To be fair, Joe Biden doesn't like the numbers seven or eleven either.

Changes

Does anyone know how to transfer feeds? I've come across a problem associating feeds with the correct account, and it seems to be skewing how everything is tracked - so I get numbers of 21, 45, 180, and 155 for the same day.

So, if anyone knows how to fix this, I would really appreciate it.

Also, for those who have my cellphone number, it will soon no longer be my cellphone number - it will be Kim's. I am looking for a new phone and new number to use, somewhat related to my earlier posting. Keep the number, just know that it's going to another of us Franci.

Alex will not have a phone. Yet. Soon, I'm sure, but not yet.

Barack the Plumber

“It’s not that I want to punish your success, I just want to make sure that
everybody who is behind you, that they’ve got a chance at success, too… I think
when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody.”—
Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) speaking to Joe Wurzelbacher, Ohio plumber


Prepare to be snaked.

H/t GetLiberty for the image and story tip.

Apple-licious

It's that time of year again when we make our annual trek into the North Georgia Mountains.

This weekend is the second and final weekend of the Georgia Apple Festival, in Ellijay, GA. It is always a lot of fun to head up and taste all the different apple treats, because they are so fresh and taste so damn good. It's a little more than an hour away, so it's not too long a trek, but enough that we have to actually plan for it.

There will be a parade tomorrow at 10 AM - we've normally headed up in the afternoon, but we're making it a special point to go up in the morning so we can spend more of the daylight hours there and not return home when it's gotten dark. I'm sure the kids will also enjoy seeing the parade.

It should be a lot of fun.

Georgia Congressional Oversight Examiner: From icon to race-baiter

Georgia Congressional Oversight Examiner: From icon to race-baiter

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Falcons mea culpa

Atlanta Games Examiner: Falcons mea culpa

I was wrong. So were most of us in Atlanta, thankfully.

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Thursday, October 16, 2008

Easy costume to find

Actually, I did see this costume at Junkman's Daughter on Sunday when we were searching for a costume for Alex. We found some things for Sammie and us parents, but nothing that Alex could really wear.




Your Halloween Costume Should Be



Elvis

Animated Ass-Kicking

Nice episode last night with Cartman's whupping clip below, and of course, please go here to view my ACS/Making Strides walk page.

Thanks.


Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Gun Girls


I need something slightly more cheery around here. I give you (with a h/t to Holy Taco) a list of the fifteen hottest gun-loving ladies.

Because, well, it's cooler than news anchors. And they shoot stuff. And they're hot. Most folks would take Sarah Michelle Gellar over Kyra Philips any day of the week.

And no, Sarah Palin is not #1 on the list. She's #4. Jeri Ryan (right) is #2. Click through for yourself for #1.

The picture at #7, though, is one I did not expect to see. It's either great or extremely unsettling, depending on your point of view. I'm going for unsettling. You should brace yourself.

Political advertising goes viral in the gaming world

How Obama ads are now making their way into video games.

Atlanta Games Examiner: Political advertising goes viral in the gaming world

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Georgia Congressional Oversight Examiner: Right Ad, Wrong J.M.

Jim Martin runs the ads John McCain won't run, and may topple what seemed to be an invincible incumbent just a few months ago.

Georgia Congressional Oversight Examiner: Right Ad, Wrong J.M.

This is my first article as a Featured Political writer for the Examiner.

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Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Better News and More Work

Beginning tomorrow, I will be writing daily pieces on the political page of the Examiner. I've been writing on their games channel for a few weeks, and I've accepted an invitation to be their new Congressional Examiner.

Whereas I write for the Games channel about three times a week, I will be writing on the political side almost daily, given the breadth of material. I'm expecting to have one post a day almost until Christmas comes around.

I'll be cross-posting my first (and possibly second) article(s) tomorrow.

Life just gets busier and busier!

Making Lemonade

"If life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Then find someone whose life
has given them vodka, and have a party. "

- Ron White

It's been almost a year and half since i went down the rabbit hole into the morass of uncertainty and doubt that comes with job loss.

I'm glad that I'm in a job now where I enjoy the people around me, and where I feel I can grow in my career and still balance everything else in life - family, school, travel, etc.

During this whole time, my family was very supportive of me, which I desparately needed.

Unfortunately, it's now time for us to deal with the doubt and uncertainty again, this time with the roles reversed. Downsizing has affected many companies, and unfortunately Kim's company made the decision to drastically cut back.

Last year, I was the one who needed others to be strong; this time, it's my turn to be the strong one. While we have some uncertainty about what will happen now regarding future work, schooling, planning for our future, and so on, it's good to know that downsizing des not mean fault, or blame. In Kim's case, she was highly regarded as a top performer, a team player, and a great resource and friend, and her company is going to regret not having her around anymore.

Hopefully, there will be better opportunities right around the corner, but in the meantime, we'll batten down the hatches just as we did last year. We'll get through this, even if we're not entirely sure how at the moment.

We'll figure out a way.

God, jail, dinosaurs, and the law

I'm proud of the fact that my son is growing up loving God.

Being four and a half now, he's getting to the age of strange questions, so we try to handle them as well as we can. For example, this morning he was talking about dinosaurs, as he likes to do.

He asked who made the little plastic dinosaur he was holding, and I replied that it was made in China. He replied by telling me that he thought God made everything, to which I replied that God made the original materials, which people in China (since it said, "Made in China" and he can read) then fashioned into the toy dino he was holding.

Yes, that was satisfactory. I'm glad I didn't have to begin discussing the composition of plastics while driving them to school.

When he goes to church, he goes to his Sunday School classroom and he enjoys being there. He's liked his teachers very much - including his current one, though we've advised him to call her "Ma'am" instead of "Mommy" but it might take a few weeks.

He hasn't gotten to know our new reverend as of yet. We had a change on pastor over the summer, as our former pastor, Fr. Berny, went to Conyers to oversee the construction of a new church. We have two new priests who we already enjoy - one is an older priest with an Irish accent, and the other is about as conservative as you can expect, extremely adherent to church teachings. I like both of them already, and I'm very comfortable with them, and I'm sure if/when Alex starts school there, he will feel just as comfortable in school as I felt in elementary school and high school.

That brings me to the third part of the title of this post. Growing up, I tried to avoid being at home as much as possible. I spent as much time either at school or out of the house with friends, as many of you remember who read here regularly. I got along well with almost all of my teachers, and at times (especially rough times) would confide in the faculty a lot, including the clergy, and they were always helpful to me in trying to sort things out.

I never thought of, or had to worry about, any of the scandalous behavior we hear about often nowadays - never crossed my mind, and there was no reason for it to cross my mind. There was never anything inappropriate, and to consider anything like that as a possibility was absolutely abhorrent. Whether it was a lay teacher, one of the priests, or even the principal or headmaster, they were still people that I knew I could confide in and trust without any repercussion.

It was that sort of trust that probably caused me to be even more devastated when I read this article a couple of weeks ago about the former headmaster of Regis High School coming out of New Jersey at the end of September.

When I was in high school, Fr. Kuntz was one of the people I would confide in, among others, about crazy shit going on in my life. I never felt threatened, nor was anything ever tried that would have been associated with this sort of behavior. Hell, he performed my mother's memorial service at Regis in 1993. This was definitely be one of the people that I trusted deeply in my time there.

That makes this news all the sadder. I would not have suspected the person I knew of such behavior. Some more cynical among us might cite statistics as an expectation of such behavior among a predetermined amount of the population. From a macro level, it's easy to make that judgment.

On a micro level, a more personal level, it's tougher to make that assumption, especially when you know all the people involved. Yes, one should expect a certain percentage of that behavior within the general population, but knowing just WHO throws a lot more variables into the mix regarding their overall personality.

Now, this is not a defense of the sin or the sinner in this case. It's wrong, and can't be justified, especially in an educational setting. What I am going to say, though, is that it's easy to condemn them without hoping and praying that they are rehabilitated in some form or fashion.

A letter was sent out from Regis last week which discussed the incident, but it was severely lacking in reassurances to the Regis community. It did not detail that his time was thoroughly investigated, or any actions taken by the school or archdiocese to investigate the past or safeguard against any behavior in the future. It was severely lacking in facts and reassurances, which would do nothing to reassure the Regis community at large.

At the same time, one part of the letter was correct, in that just trashing the sin and the sinner doesn't really get anywhere. That is where the law comes in, and Fr. Kuntz will have to deal with the consequences of his actions and the people who have been hurt by this. As Catholics, it is also our duty not just to punish the sin, but also to forgive the sinner when they seek remorse for their actions.

At this point, on a micro level, all I can do hope and pray that he is remorseful and repentant for his actions. I know from my personal experience that it seemed unlikely he would engage in this sort of behavior, but the facts are blatantly obvious that it did take place. At this point, I would hope he knows his sin and is prepared to do whatever penance is necessary in the eyes of God and of the law.

At this point, I would also be prepared to listen to his problems and try to help the same way many faculty members helped me with my personal problems many years ago.

I'm not denying it's complicated. It is, in many ways, and from a population standpoint some actions must be taken to prevent this sort of behavior in any segment, not just the priesthood. We shouldn't have to worry about this sort of behavior when our kids are sent off to school - we should be able to trust that the laymen and clergy in our community will support our children and be good role models for them.

I want Alex to be able to confide in his teachers the same way I was able to confide in my teachers, while at the same time I want to make sure he's in an environment that he can still come talk to us r to his teachers about anything that worries him. Children need to have that sort of comfortable environment to be able to actually grow up somewhat well-adjusted.

But on a personal level, we must also realize that forgiveness should come into play, provided the sinner is WILLING to do penance for his sins. While we can cast out someone for the gravity of their sins, we must also be willing to forgive such sins from someone who is willing to seek such interior repentance.

To those who stuck with this post to the end, thank you - I've been trying to figure out how to put my thoughts down for quite a while.

Monday, October 13, 2008

Aggregation

You people write too damn much :)

Right now, I've got about 1200 unread items in Google Reader.

Since Friday.

I thought I was writing a lot, but DAMN. Y'all were busy.

I guess I need to kick it back up this week - which I'll be doing starting tonight with some BIG changes coming along and a BIG announcement of the good variety.

Moron 2, Cramer 0

I stopped watching Jim Cramer on a regular basis a while ago, after it became obvious that most of his guesses (especially during his famed "lightning round") were wrong and that he wasn't adequately researching the companies he spent a LOT of time plugging on his show - such as Bear Stearns.

I haev been watching over the past couple of weeks, and I've seen him yell through my set and computer to SELL EVERYTHING THE SKY IS FALLING OMG RUN!!!!!!!! in the midst of a panic.

He continued to do so on Friday, with the woeful belief that he wouldn't know how far it would fall. In addition, here is a video stating to RUN AWAY FOM EVERYTHING! DON'T BUY ANY STOCKS! AAAUUGGHHH!!!!!



Meanwhile, I wrote, on Friday morning, when it hit my mark of 8000, that it was time to begin buying, because that would be the floor and the panic would begin to subside as all the stupid money would have disappeared as smart people realized the abundance of buying opportunities.

I hope you listed to me, if you're a short-term guy) and not this buffooon, because he would have cost you money instead of having you see almost a 20% gain in two days.

Friday, 10/10, 9:35 AM, when we both published our outlooks: 8059.56
Monday, 10/13, 4:00 PM: 9,387.61.

Each of the bank stocks I mentioned to buy, which Cramer was flipping out over, are each up 15% or more.

I accept commissions through Paypal or through poker room transfers, if you are so inclined.

That's twice I've been the sane, balanced one compared to this insane monkey. If I am EVER the sane, balanced one, you know that's cause for alarm.

I wish I'd had a hedge fund to screw with people's money in the late 90's so I could have my own show - but with actual decent advice.

I still reserve the right to gloat.

Oh well. Hope you made some money Friday and today.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Prehistoric Futuristic Smashing

If we got this for Alex for Christmas, I think his head would absolutly explode in delight.


Kota is in some respects a largish (32 inches tall, over 36 inches long) version of the Pleo. While the Kota Triceratops Dinosaur appears to have fewer sensors he can sense motion and touch, move his head, and blink his eyes.

While Kota will make stomping sounds when you (or your kid) jump on his back, he is unable to walk on his own.Kota Robot Baby Dino, Oct 2008

If we had the space for it, or the budget ($300????), it might be something to consider - but yikes.




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Friday, October 10, 2008

Return of the Donk

I had a lot of fun last Spring spewing and raking poker chips in the BoDonkey on BoDog.


Time to have some more fun.


Start getting ready - another series is on the horizon. Starting at the end of the month on Tuesday nights...



Play Online Poker


it's the RETURN OF THE BODONKEY.

Yep, the BoDog Blogger Tournament is coming back. More details to follow soon.

Catching the falling knife

I said a few weeks ago that I expected the DJIA to bottom around 8000 as that would be about a 40% drop from its high water mark.

Well, this morning, it dropped to 8000, and then started to halt and hold around that line.

We'll see if I turned out to be correct after all and if I managed to predict this bottom like I did eight years ago with the NASDAQ - I had thought it would stop around 2,000 after the tech crash (which began in 2000 when I was still at Salomon Smith Barney) and it bottomed near that level a few months after I left the firm.

Jim Cramer's referred to calling a bottom as catching a falling knife, and that's it's best not to try. Since he also suggested buying Lehman and Bear Stearns days before he went belly-up, I'm ignoring him. HE can be the fear-monger, but I'd rather follow a Buffett who is buying up nearly every share of stock he can - not just Goldman, but a lot more.

I hope I'm right again, and not just for the sake of my ego. Once again, I also wish I had the roll to capitalize on my theory and start dipping my toes in with BAC (20) JPM (35) and C (12) If I'd had anything to invest, all three of those would have fired this morning after the (hopefully) last of the thundering heard began a massive selloff this morning (600 points, which has now almost been entirely recovered just in the time I've written this post).

Too bad I've spent all my money on booze and hobo hunting.

UPDATE #1: 10:30, and all 700 points have been made up.

UPDATE #2: 11:00: Apparently Hugh Hewitt agrees with me too. Looks like we had the same urge and idea and the same time, though I won by just a couple minutes.

UPDATE #3: CNN, as well. Most of their panel also thinks it's time to but more equity positions, with several indicating it's time to start dipping into larger banks. A couple suggested bonds, a couple suggested international markets, and one suggested chocolate, but most seemed to share my position - which could also be a bad sign.

Quickdraw

The good news is, you totally pwned that dweeb in Halo.

The bad news is, you only last 20 seconds in the sack.

From the BBC:

The volunteers in Dr Marcel Waldinger's study were 89 men who had so-called primary premature ejaculation, meaning they had always suffered from it from their first sexual contact onwards.

For a month, their female partners were asked to use a stopwatch at home to measure the time until ejaculation each time they had intercourse.

Great, so they're playing Beat the Clock instead of beat the...aw, nevermind.
She said men with primary premature ejaculation tended to be fast reactors generally.

"These men have very quick reflexes. They may be excellent at playing tennis or computer games, for example."
World of Warcraft schmoes had no comment.

Thursday, October 09, 2008

Farrakhan's Messiah

It's all about the company you keep, I suppose.

For the lefty readers, keep in mind who you're in bed with on this one.

AND THIS IS ONE OF THE SANER SPONSORS OF HIS CAMPAIGN. He only talked about bombing people, instead of actually bombing the Capitol and Pentagon.




It's all about the company you keep.

Bribery in DC starts early

Only in a system as corrupt and broken as Washington, DC would this even be remotely considered a good idea.



 


For years, school officials have used detention, remedial classes, summer school and suspensions to turn around poorly behaved, underachieving middle school students, with little results. Now they are introducing a program that will pay students up to $100 per month for displaying good behavior.


Beginning in October, 3,000 students at 14 middle schools will be eligible to earn up to 50 points per month and be paid $2 per point for attending class regularly and on time, turning in homework, displaying manners and earning high marks. A maximum of $2.7 million has been set aside for the program, and the money students earn will be deposited every two weeks into bank accounts the system plans to open for them.


Is Trading Cash for Grades a Good Idea?, Oct 2008

You should read the whole article.


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Truckin - October 2008, 7-10

The latest from Pauly's desk - enjoy.

------------------------------

Truckin' - October 2008, Vol. 7, Issue 10

Welcome back to another issue.

1. Maisy Wednesday by Paul McGuire: She always wore bright lipstick which brought out a little gleam in her lips. She frequently smiled, but never initiated any sort of conversation... More

2. Happy Anniversary by John 'Falstaff' Hartness As we stood outside the courthouse in our newly wedded bliss (which also somewhat resembled the look of people who have just survived a tornado, as it happened much faster than we expected) we decided that since Suzy didn't have to be at work for another couple of hours, we'd go have lunch. So we scraped together a few bucks and trundled over to a nearby McDonald's... More

3. A Lock of Bonnie Parker's Hair by Johnny Hughes They was real famous and in the newspapers and all robbing them banks, when banks were unpopular. I asked Bonnie for something to remember her by. We didn't have a pencil for an autograph. She pulled this little pair of scissors out of her purse and gave me this... a lock of her hair... More

4. Whiskey Kisses by Betty After Dark Held apart by distance and circumstance, brought together in soft voices, the pieces of who we are fill the room with every drink we pour. The gaps in our lives slowly closing as the light from the window crept into the room. There was something unavoidable that connected us, but the details were never as clear as they were this night.... More

5. What I Knew? by Dusty Rhodes Just walk up and ask her you idiot... You've been friends for four years... she doesn't have a date and either do you... Quit being a pussy and ask her... Christ dude... what are you nervous about... More

What a Long Strange Trip It's Been...

From the Editor's Laptop:

Thanks again for wasting your precious time with Truckin'. This month's issue features veteran Truckin' writers including the legendary Johnny Hughes with another Texas tale. Dusty Rhodes and John Hartness both make triumphant returns to the Truckin' roster. Betty After Dark will whip you in a deviant frenzy with her latest sultry tale. And I shared a new piece of fiction called Maisy Wednesday.

Please tell your friends about your favorite Truckin' stories. The writers definitely appreciate your support.

Also, if you know anyone who is interested in being added to the mailing list, well, please shoot me an e-mail.

Before I go... I can never thank the writers enough for writing for free and exposing their guts, blood, and soul to the universe. Their art and dedication inspires me and I hope it inspires you too.

Be good,

McG

---Tao of Pauly --- http://mcgrupp.blogspot.com
Tao of Poker --- http://taopoker.com
Truckin' --- http://mcgtruckin.blogspot.com
Coventry --- http://www.phish-coventry.com
Las Vegas Blog --- http://www.lasvegasvegas.com

"A cult is a religion with no political power." - Tom Wolfe

Dispassionate

Yes, you have had a lack of emotion and passion for the past several months.

Yes, you do appear to not want it badly enough.

Yes, you don't seem to want to go after a lot of the heavy questions about your opponent.

Yes, you do need to fight, a lot harder, if you want any chance in hell of winning in 26 days.

Your supporters are BEGGING you, over e-mail, to your face, everywhere.

But it's your choice if you want to just fall on your knife.

Or, you can listen to the people who are coming out more for your running mate than they are for you!



Sen. McCain needs to liven up and take charge, or he has no chance to win.

Memories of bonus chasing

A long time, I used to hunt for any and all of the online casino bonuses I could find.

Before the UIGEA was passed, it was easy to hop from site to site, looking for the best possible way to leverage a tiny bankroll. I even remember reading guides which outlined ways to leverage the maximum amount of bonuses and matching play with the least amount of investment possible.

Unfortunately, for the past two years, it's been harder for beginning players to gain experience in that way with a cushion for their bankroll. It's harder for players to find a lot of USA casino bonuses to start building a bankroll with a minimum of risk.

Any site, therefore, which gathers information about the top online casinos, therefore, will see a lot of traffic. When they are put together in such a way that tell you exactly what kind of bonus to expect (100%? 200%? more?), ratings of various rooms, games available (from blackjack, to poker, and many more), and now, in this heated environment, availability to American players, that site will see a lot of business. It's extremely important, in this day and age, to keep informed of what going on.

Last week, the state of Kentucky, as I wrote about here, attempted to seize the domain names of several well-known online poker sites, including Doyle's Room. This case, to me, is a stark reminder of how easy it is to see certain freedoms disappear if we don't fight to keep them. There should be no reason why reasonable adults should not be able to pursue their interests, especially, if in this case, they do not pose any sort of harm to others. In this environment, any resource that can advise you of a way to enjoy your favorite pastime, as well as keep you informed of any threats to your interests, is worth visiting.

What state might be next?

Damn Riggs, Waffles, and Kat


You are The Chariot


Triumph, Victory, Overcoming Obstacles.


The chariot is one of the most complex cards to define. On its most basic level, it implies war, a struggle, and an eventual, hard-won victory. Either over enemies, obstacles, nature, the beasts inside you, or to just get what you want. But there is a great deal more to it. The charioteer wears emblems of the sun, yet the sign behind this card is the moon. The chariot is all about motion, and yet it is often shown as stationary. It is a union of opposites, like the black and white steeds. They pull in different directions, but must be (and can be!) made to go together in one direction. Control is required over opposing emotions, wants, needs, people, circumstances; bring them together and give them a single direction, your direction. Confidence is also needed and, most especially, motivation. The card can, in fact, indicate new motivation or inspiration, which gets a stagnant situation moving again.


What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Feed Switch

I've been using BlogLines for a couple of years now to track the 130+ blogs/sites and all the fun stuff you post.

Well, Bloglines has gone out for me one too many times, so I've finally decided to export everything to Google Reader. Since they already have a whole bunch of things I use ties together, I might as well add one more.

Also, you may have noticed that the previous post "War on Internet Gaming" was a cross-link from where I'm currently writing for Examiner. I might start a second page there soon, relating to politics - more details when it is finalized so that we get to know just what I'm ranting about (if it does come to fruition).

That's enough about feeds - it's feeding time, I need some breakfast.

Atlanta Games Examiner: War on internet gaming

Atlanta Games Examiner: War on internet gaming

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Tick....tick....tick

Over $10 trillion, and more on the way.

These are not fun times, folks.

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Ending Runaround

A schedule was released on Monday for the Spring 2009 semester at Georgia State, and I need to take four classes in order to graduate in May.

Being the anal-retentive fellow that I am, I quickly put together a matrix so I could set the 40 possible classes against each other to see what might work best.

I'm trying to keep some rules in place:

  • Only 2 nights of classes per week.
  • Each night will have two classes.
  • No huffing across campus between classes or driving across town between classes.
  • Avoid if possible doing consecutive nights of classes.
  • Avoid as much American Idol as possible.

I need to take the MBA Capstone class, one Computer/Information Systems class, and any two electives, so I have some wiggle room.

The first schedule I've managed to come up with which meets most of these conditions and involves classes that actually interest me allows for two classes each on Monday night and Thursday night. This would mean very little travel conflicts and night where I need a sitter, and it would be spaced out enough that I could actually study without having to stay up until 2:30 in the morning.

At least, it meets four of the five conditions. As for the fifth - well, I'd get a full dose of AI, which can be harmful to your health.

I've still got some work to do on this.

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Wrap Up Deux


Well, tonight was the second presidential debate, from Nashville, TN.

Overall, I thought the format of "town-hall" was about as far away from a true town hall as you could get. The audience involvement was reduced to reading cue cards, badly, of questions written mostly by other people.

I thought that both candidates were horrible in keeping to time limits and pretty bad in staying on topic. I thought Tom Brokaw lost control of the debate about halfway through - and it's times like these where I really do miss Tim Russert, because I don't think he would have tolerated a lot of the shenanigans of running over time and again.

Now, as for the candidates themselves, I think that, being behind, John McCain needed to really turn things around and act with a bit more fire and action that he has displayed since his pick of Gov. Palin. He's been quiet for the last couple of weeks, essentially losing any sort of tactical advantage that he had coming out of the convention. These debates are where he needs to not only show his knowledge of the issues, but also show that he can be quick-witted and actually dish with Obama as well as (or better) Obama/Biden has been dish on his campaign.

While Gov. Palin has tried to do so, and other people have tried to do so, the only person who can really do that is John McCain.

I don't think he did that tonight.

By not bringing out Sen. Obama's connections to Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, William Ayers, Bernadine Dohrn, or Franklin Raines, he appears soft. These are serious questions about serious influences in the shaping of Sen. Obama, and Sen. McCain failed to address those in front of a large audience who needs/wants to hear everything about their candidates to make informed judgments - at least, those who are still undecided or on the fence.

I don't think he did an adequate enough job of defusing Sen. Obama's positions consistently throughout the debate. While he had an occasional good response, it was not consistent throughout the debate.

Aside from stuttering, Sen. Obama didn't really have any unforced errors. He held his own - which will be painted as a victory for his campaign. I don't think this sort of debate will really make a difference in gaining ground on Sen. Obama's campaign. Sen. McCain was not lively or forceful enough tonight, and he is running out of time to reshape this race and make anything stick to the new Teflon kid.

Only John McCain has the ability to get a lot of these points out. If he doesn't do it effectively, then it is all over except for the shouting.

The last debate is in eight days. If McCain repeats this performance next week, he will lose.