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Vegas was a fun diversion. I did nothing in tournaments, but I made up for it in cash games. I decided to have fun, and I mostly played $1/$2 nlhe. My win rate was about $100/hour. Yesterday's session included being berated for this hand:

I hold 22 in the sb. All the players on the hand at least $300 (I had ~$500). An early position player raises to $15 (blinds $1/$2), 2 call, so I make the easy call [1]. The bb folds, so four to the flop.

Flop comes 982r. I check, raiser makes a continuation bet of $45, one call and one fold; I check-rai to $115 or so; he shoves, other player exits and I call. His KK doesn't catch.

After the hand, I get berated by him for a few minutes. [2] "How can you call a raise to $15 by an early position player?" I wanted to answer, 'By throwing $14 more into the pot;' however, I declined to respond. I did win most of his rebuy, too....

[1] Anyone who thinks this isn't an easy call given the implied odds, see the book mentioned below.
[2] I was quite pleased to see that the intelligence and decorum of many live poker players hasn't improved.




After I got to Vegas, Nick Christenson calls me. "Russ," he begins, "Have you seen Two Plus Two this morning?" I tell him no, I haven't. He then tells me, "Mason Malmuth said of our book, 'I'm about 40 percent through the book Winning Strategies for No-Limit Hold'em by Nick Christenson and Russell Fox...What I have read so far is excellent, and assuming the complete book is of the same quality, and I expect this to be the case, it will receive my highest recommendation.'" I told Nick that I didn't believe him, but he swore it was true. It is.




Is China headed toward collapse? Thoughts?




A client sent me a link to an economic blog that appears to be interesting: Charles Hugh Smith's "Oftwominds." Thoughts from the econ geeks?
It was the eleventh hour of the 11th day of November. 91 years ago
World War One, the 'War to End All Wars', ended with 2700 men killed
between the time the armistice was signed and ther silencing of the
guns.

It was an inevitable war fought over nothing of any significance,
resulting in almost 7 million combat deaths.

Time after time, masses of men went 'over the top' on the Western
Front at the behest of their generals, to be gunned down by machine
gun fire. Then those same generals ordered their men to do it again,
the same way, into the same withering fire. And again.

140,000 Allied soldiers died at Ypres in 1917 to push the Germans back
five miles, only to have that absurdly small bit of territory
recaptured five months later without resistance. The entire battle
was fought on the erroneous belief that its success would have
crippled the German's U-Boat threat -- a massive failure of
intelligence.

In World War II, with new toys at their disposal, a later generation
of generals became and remained convinced that air power delivered via
massive bombardment could bring our enemies to their knees. Dresden
and the Tokyo fire-bombings were a couple of the consequences of their
ill-informed actions, and little or nothing of aid to the war effort to
show for the tens of thousands of civilian casualties.

And in the 60's, the best and the brightest listened to another set of
generals convinced that we could bring North Vietnam to its senses by
raining ever more bombs down upon a barely industrialized country;
convinced we could win a war with yet one-more surge in troops levels.
56,000 died before the country recoiled.

On this day, we are asked to remember the veterans of these and other
wars. But in future days, we will be asked to trust the generals yet
one more time.

More troops, better armor, a new strategy; these will create victory
in a land that has seen no foreign victors in 2000 years; an influx of
foreigners will yet turn the tide against an enemy who largely exist
precisely because foreigners occupy their country.

And the unfortunate truth is that they will probably have their way
again.

Mourn not for the dead of wars past, though they deserve their honor
and remembrance. Mourn for the future dead, for those who need not fall.

The Matrix as a Charlie Chaplin short

  • Nov. 11th, 2009 at 1:51 PM
via boingboing, "A Russian actor's group called 'Big Difference' remade The Matrix as a Charlie Chaplin silent film."



"Which pill would you choose: blue or red?"

"How would I know? It's a black and white movie!"

Fucking. A.

  • Nov. 11th, 2009 at 3:43 PM
Dear djhomeschool,

Congratulations! You have fully earned your Deposit Bonus. Your PokerStars account has been credited in the amount of USD 50.00.

***

Thank God. I'm just under $300 on Stars and will now be content to give them almost 0 action.

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A metaphor for my Republican friends

  • Nov. 11th, 2009 at 1:13 PM
Follow Nancy Pelosi's lead and get nailed in the nuts:

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PamFood dinner

  • Nov. 11th, 2009 at 2:57 PM
I'm having to type this manually because stupid Verizon Webmail won't let me log in for some reason. I guess I could cut n paste on the Pre, but ahhhhh, fuck it. ("Fuck it declared!")

onion pie
pork ribs and sauerkraut
apple pie

(Yay!)

The men who stare at Goatse

  • Nov. 11th, 2009 at 11:24 AM
I can't believe that title didn't occur to me sooner. Although I'd give more props for someone who actually pranked a marquee to say this, instead of what appears to be a bad Photoshop job. (Link is entirely SFW.)

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"The Death and Destruction Poll"

  • Nov. 11th, 2009 at 12:03 PM
Friends,
A lot of small things on mind. Preparing talk for
banquet next Tuesday of OCMC--Orthodox Missions Center.
I will not work that here in this journal as I have some
papers.
This Saturday we will go to Pushkin little tragedies
(the first performance of it, Stanislavsky failed to stage
it) and I am told our Peter Von Berg [info]petervb42 is
great in it. Anyone able to join us for 2pm matinee contact
me. Also Dr Steven Ware of Nyack agrees to meet our group
Transfiguration on December 5.
But for here I have perhaps not much special
to say today ...

I am interested in reading of a 'new' book of Vladimir
Nabokov , made from notes left by the author and released
by his son Dimitri Nabokov after many 30 years of family
and inner debate--The Original of Laura
Now my question, to order or not to order? Out on November
17th. Michiko Kakutani(New York Times) summarizes
"in a sketchy hall of mirrors Nabokov jousts with death
and reality". She is of two minds as to whether it should
have come out at all.Perhaps I should wait for the
New York Post review?

Together with C.G.Jung's even more important Red Book,
which I have on order, this makes two great publishing
events this Fall of works which were not intended for
publication by their authors.

That leads to the following poll if anyone is interested.
It is an old question in literature. Sometimes it has
personal ramifications. When my father died he told me to
destroy all his papers. I did in general. certainly all the
personal papers, all the notebooks in small illegible
hand writing recording books and concerts. but not all of his
writing. This I feel he would have been happy that I cared
to keep, and it is not I think at this point publishable in
any case.
Anyway:
Poll #1483965 The Death and Destruction Poll
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 31

With publications this year of posthumous work of Jung and Nabokov the question arises of obying author's wishes to not publish a work after his death...

View Answers

I tend to think the author's wish to have remaining work destroyed or anyway not published should be obeyed
11 (35.5%)

I tend to think that works that may have value should be made available in any case
20 (64.5%)




Of course the title of the poll is a bit gaudy and the options
are not very exact but it seems to me that a subject that divides
people can have some interest in seeing how they divide...just
if you are interested and it may add to interest if you will add
a comment.
really the poll cannot measure fine points but it can show what
is the first gut reaction and that can have interest.
otherwise I have only a photo from yesterday at a nearby pond.Read more... )
and a Kandinsky at the end,and I am yours inviting all your response,
+Seraphim
.
Kandinsky Several Circles

urge... to get... dog... rising...

  • Nov. 11th, 2009 at 10:30 AM


http://www.nortexsamrescue.org/upforadoption/upforadoption.htm

And he's not even ready for adoption yet, so I would have time to get my shit together! Heh.

Treadmill status

  • Nov. 10th, 2009 at 10:04 PM
I think the problem with the treadmill is the controller board. I have power to the incline motor, but I see no voltage on the spades for the belt motor. Damn. That's about a $300 part. Still, given that it was like a $2500 treadmill when it was new (though I didn't pay that) it's probably worth it.

WTF ESPN???????

  • Nov. 10th, 2009 at 9:52 PM
What the hell did they do to the Final Table broadcast? I set my DVR for the two-hour timeslot and when two hours hit, they were still three-handed, let alone any heads up! When does heads-up air???

home entertainment status report

  • Nov. 10th, 2009 at 6:49 PM
Ok, I'm looking into the living room entertainment megaplex for an urgent upgrade, and this is exactly the kind of stupid naval-gazing that blogs were invented for. Here's an outline of the goals. I'm constrained by money, the fact that we rent, and I can't get anything that takes up much more space.
where I'm at what I want constraints resolution
Dead big TV. Working tiny TV. Working big TV. Max space is about 40". Buy new TV, 37"-42" LCD.
DirecTV kick-ass package. HD video. OK to drop sports and some movie channels (not Showtime). TCI Comcast sucks. ?
DVRs: one DirecTivo downstairs, one series 1 TiVo upstairs.* HD-compatible DVR downstairs. Any DVR upstairs. Can't upgrade cables in walls (we rent). I am a TiVo addict and do not want to switch brands, but no HD TiVo is available for DirecTV right now. ?
Ancient receiver, works good, no S-Video or HDMI. Mismatched but functional 5.1 speaker setup. My mom should be able to watch TV at my house without a manual. Video/audio switching between DVD, broadcast, VCR, and n video game systems. ?

When I say "I", I naturally mean "us", as in [info]bayareajenn and myself, but I am speaking in the chauvinist singular. It's related to the "royal we" but is grammatically appropriate when speaking about big TVs when one's wife has abdicated decision-making, but not veto over expenditures.

As per my previous post, I'm pretty sure I'm going with LCD. Plasma has problems (power consumption, lifetime). LCDs seem to be pretty decent at this point—assuming they're configured properly, which seems to be a problem on store models.

* Why am I still using a series 1 TiVo? Because my lifetime subscription is now in its ninth year, and it still works. Well, except the original remote, which doesn't really work well anymore.

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Stupid annoying thing about the Droid

  • Nov. 10th, 2009 at 6:08 PM
There's no way to set the wallpaper to "no wallpaper" or a solid color. To get a black background, I had to turn the flash off and take a picture of a solid black surface, then use that photo as wallpaper.
http://pitchfork.com/news/37079-magnetic-fields-announce-new-album/

I have to say "We Are Having A Hootenanny" is a great song title.

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Doc sez

  • Nov. 10th, 2009 at 3:29 PM
"116/68.. mine should be so good. Whatever you're doing, keep it up."

Cutting-pills-in-half now officially replaced with new prescription at half the previous dose.

Quote of the Day

  • Nov. 10th, 2009 at 3:27 PM
By far the fastest way to end the war in Afghanistan would be to ask General McChrystal’s staff to produce a plan to make it deficit neutral and find sixty votes in the senate for his financing plan.

Yglesias

"Big" 3 still full of fail

  • Nov. 10th, 2009 at 2:38 PM
http://www.hybridcars.com/economics/tale-three-detroit-electric-car-programs-26225.html

They barely go into Ford, because it seems they're not completely retarded.

I can't believe Lutz is still in at GM. Jesus. We should start a death pool for GM for the next time.

Taxes and the WSOP

  • Nov. 10th, 2009 at 11:44 AM
For those of you who want to see how much was really won, go to this post and this post.

You can't make this stuff up

  • Nov. 10th, 2009 at 9:42 AM
"...users who click through to screened WSJ.com articles from Google searches are usually offered the full text of the story without any subscription block. It is only users who find their way to the story through the Wall Street Journal's website who are told they must subscribe before they can read further."

From an article discussing Ralph Rupert Murdoch's 'threat' to stop search engines from linking to his news sites, and making people pay to access his content. (Murdoch owns the WSJ).
Friends,
Notes and asides today...
1. 'The Conjure Man Dies" by Rudolph Fisher is a Harlem
murder mystery from 1932. It is out of print and not available
cheap unfortunately. I am reading a library copy but just the
note that it deserves availability--not great writing, not I
think(looked ahead to end)a great story either, but atmospheric
and with a fine ear for talk.

2.Fr.Vinogradov remarks on the critique of Evdokimov on
icons by Jacques Ellul (this entry is rapidly devolving
into a 'talking heads' thing isn't it?). I find it on line
Ellul's most, to my mind, effective point is this--
"This theology of the icon rests on a certain conception
of the incarnation that utterly fails to take into account
its unfulfilled aspect:the waiting and hope."
.
My response would be to regret the word 'utterly'--why could
he not be satisfied to say 'perhaps risks to insufficiently
take into account etc' and to wish
that thoughts could be placed side by side(of course intent
readers here if there are any will recall my preference for
complementarity ,for allowing opposite statements to
complete each other)rather than in either/or form. If he would
say 'a somewhat romantic iconology like Evdokimov's risks,
entirely contrary to its intent, to undervalue openness to
the future, expectation and hope'...
it might be better?

3.Whether or not icons are separate from 'art history' here
is an image I like by Paul Klee, Magic Garden I will
put it large here with such commentary as I find on line.Read more... )
I would be happy for some other commentary from some reader here or
from some writer to put more clearly what we like in this image.
Perhaps it is essentially musical...

4.Here ,speaking of musical, is a Kandinsky I especially liked
at the exhibit at the Guggenheim. Black Arch Read more... )
Perhaps this time I do not feel an urge for interpretation or verbal
appreciation. Is it that the arch seems a simpler image than the
goblet or chalice at the center of the Garden?

Today these, I think it can be enough, and as always invite
all your response and am yours
+Seraphim
.
Magic Garden. Paul Klee. larger image within post.