Monday, October 31, 2005

KING5 quotes Gregoire, "lob loss can be fun"

Cruel typo at KING5 Seattle News. Screen shot below, in case they fix it.

Sunday, October 30, 2005

Pocket aces net a school of fish

Or, "The insanity of micro-limit poker"

I don't think I can add much to this beyond letting the hand history speak for itself. This is at a 2¢/4¢ table, and the net result was a $1.37 win (24¢ of which I put into the pot).

I'm on the button in an 8-player game. Union is on the small blind. I'm dealt AdAc

Preflop:
power545 calls 2¢
Chuba calls 2¢
gc67 raises to 4¢
TarzanaTan folds
banski calls 4¢
I raise to 6¢
Union calls 6¢ (5¢ + 1¢ small blind)
Big Blind folds
power545 and Chuba call 4¢ more
gc64 caps it at 8¢
Everyone else calls; the pot is 48¢.

The flop comes an irritating 5c9c3s.

Union bets 2¢ from the small blind.
power545 and Chuba call.
gc67 raises to 4¢
banski calls
I'm sensing fish galore, so I slowplay my aces and just call
Union raises to 6¢
power545 and Chuba call.
gc67 caps it at 8¢
Everyone else calls; nobody folds; the pot is now at 96¢.

I'm worried -- somebody has to have a flush draw, or is holding two pair, or is on a straight draw.

The turn is 7h

Union bets 4¢. Everyone calls. Nobody folds.

In meatspace, Darthslumlord, watching over my shoulder, says "I think you're in trouble." I tell him "I think these aces are going to be expensive for me."

The river is 2d. Someone holding the hammer now has two pair.

Everyone's got cold feet. They check around to me on the button. I'm shocked, but bet 4¢ to scare possible stronger hands out. Everyone calls me, except Chuba, who folds.

With six players still in, I win, pair of aces. Union shows a pair of sevens with ten kicker. Nobody else shows. I rake in $1.37 (in a 2¢/4¢ game - holy cow!).

If you're thinking about playing online for real money, but don't want to actually put real money through teh internets, I'd strongly recommend you find an evening that you can stay up until 1 a.m. (pacific time) and sign up for noblepoker.com's nightly $200 tournament. Signup begins at 10:00 p.m., and is limited to the first 500 players. Space goes quick; don't expect space to be available at 10:01 p.m. The tournament starts at 11:00 p.m. The top 150 places pay real money. I placed 19th and got $2.00.

Then, play tight with those winnings.

Pet cemetery dug up to build motel

Found at fark.com today:

newsobserver.com

After 35 years, the Pet Rest Cemetery in far northwest Raleigh has succumbed to development -- perhaps a Hampton Inn, owner Steve Rogers said.

That means a new home for Yogi, Sniffy and a pig named Arnold.

By mid-November, Kaauamo must disturb the rest of Puddles Eggleston, Capt. Nick Danger Myers and Sir Timothy Flash of Skye.

"At least I'm not having nightmares," he said. "Yet."

Saturday, October 29, 2005

Pumpkin carving at the old Ruleslawyer's place

Tres and Kelly came over last night bearing four good size pumpkins that they'd gotten from Safeway. Combined with the two pumpkins that Kim, Krys, and I picked up at pumpkin patch, we had six pumpkins to tear through last night.

We started by getting some stencils from HomestarRunner.com, and Krys wanted a cat, so we got another stencil from Gr8pumpkin.com.

Two of the Safeway pumpkins were rotten inside -- blue? ewwww... -- one of them unusably so. Kelly was couragous enough to carve the other rotten one into Li'l Brudder. Krys carved hers into a traditonal freehand jack-o-lantern, then put "Hi" on its forhead (better than "Poor Impulse Control", I guess). I carved the cat. Kim carved The Cheat. And Tres carved Trogdor.

I think they turned out pretty well.

Eight-year-old kills bear

You gonna eat that?
"I was scared," she said, then paused for dramatic emphasis. "Because bears will eat anything!"

[Officials] shook their heads in amazement at the news that the first hunter to bag a bear was a third-grade girl from Kitzmiller, on Maryland's border with West Virginia.

...The Humane Society of the United States, which has urged Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) to ban bear hunts, expressed concern Monday over the age of the hunter and noted that the first bear killed last year was a young bear.

"Governor Ehrlich is personally responsible for exposing young children and young bears to this cruelty," read the news release.

So how did Sierra make the shot? "I'm fast at everything," she explained.

"I can't imagine the pride," said Tim Kvech, 31, the second hunter to bring in a bear. "My daughter's 9, and I can't do that."

The third hunter to come in -- and the third to arrive in a red pickup -- was Tera Roach, 23, a Reisterstown, Md., native. She had trapped two bears in Maine, but the bear she shot Monday, a 147-pound female, was her first bear kill in Maryland.

Hearing of Sierra's feat, Roach said, "That's good to see any kids out there, especially girls."

Friday, October 28, 2005

Harry Potter's 'flying' car taken

Harry Potter's 'flying' car taken

Police said the rusting Ford Anglia, registration 7990 TD, went missing from the South West Film Studios in St Agnes on Wednesday night. ...

Police suspect a Harry Potter fan, or a classic car enthusiast, sneaked into the studio site with a trailer to remove the car.

Don't waste your time checking the candy

Are strangers going to poison your kid's trick-or-treat loot? Myth busted. No documented cases.

What about needles and razor blades? Inifinitely more likely than zero -- maybe as many as 10 times in the last 55 years, but probably only once.

Thursday, October 27, 2005

Wil Wheaton on Phil Hellmuth

Seriously, Phil; grow up.

I tuned in a bit late, just in time to see Phil raise from early position with pocket threes. He was called by one player who had AK. A king hit the flop, so Phil slowed down. He never improved his hand, and he eventually folded to a bet on the river. It was a great play from Phil, who even said, "I think you got lucky with ace king," as he showed his cards to his opponent (who was one seat to Phil's left.)

Another player at the table asked the dealer to see Phil's cards, a perfectly reasonable request, and well within the "show one, show all" rules.

The dealer turned Phil's cards up to the other players, and started the wash.

Phil said, "Who wanted to see my cards?"

The dealer pointed to the 5 or 6 seat, and started the shuffle.

Phil's voice took on this incredibly condescending tone and he said, "You know, it's very bad etiquette to ask to see another players cards."

Excuse me? Phil Hellmuth is going to give lectures on etiquette? What's next? Mike Matusow or Josh Arieh on manners? How about Scotty Nguyen on hairstyles?

Goonies Kill Granny

CLEVELAND -- The gang of teenagers who called themselves the "Goonies" that was terrorizing Slavic Village is now facing a murder charge.

One of the victims, Therese Szelugowski, who was 76, died this morning after being attacked and robbed two weeks ago.

Police announced the arrest of fourteen teenagers last week in connection with a string of attacks in the area near saint hyacinth.

wkyc.com | Plain Dealer

Slick shoes!

Pumpkin PC

A case mod for the season: turning a Pumpkin into a PC

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

Two FTF attempts, zero FTF's

Two weeks ago, I attempted to get a First-To-Find on The Dash Point Case geocache, but was four hours too late, and had to settle for third. Yesterday, I tried to get Brown's Point Part Deux, but again missed FTF by four hours, getting 2TF and nearly losing my GPS in the process.

It's nice to get some new caches out there that aren't film canisters in random parking lots.

Lawyer wins Rock Paper Scissors World Championships

Paper wins and a Toronto lawyer goes home $7,000 CDN richer. See also, Cnews.canoe.ca's report.

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Quick poker notes

In no particular order:

  • Darthslumlord called the other day. Happy Days has $3/$6 poker tables again.
  • I spent the end of my gambling bankroll, with the exception of my lucky $5 CDN bill, on the Port Townsend/Port Angeles Cache Machine, so my poker's been limited.
  • I have, however, been playing on NoblePoker.com. I played a 500 player $200 freeroll a couple of weeks ago, finishing 19th, and getting $2 as a result. I haven't played a lot, but I've slowly built that $2 into $3.80 at the 2¢/4¢ tables, and plan on grinding at that level until my bankroll gets to $10, at which point I'll play some $1 tournaments.
  • In my last live game, I got really lucky on the last hand of the night, having gotten Q2o on the big blind, and seeing a 2-2-K flop, a rag turn, and a Q on the river. Sucked in some good size money from two others with Kx.

Cat saves Tonya Harding from masked assaulter boyfriends

That's if you believe her side of the story. Read between the very, very wide lines, and it becomes a not atypical day in the life of Tonya Harding.

"Nolan pleaded not guilty Monday in Clark County District Court and was released on his own recognizance." That pretty much explains it all right there.

Monday, October 24, 2005

Dear Onion: 1st amendment is dead. Love, White House

Protecting the Presidential Seal. No Joke. - New York Times (need a registration?)

You might have thought that the White House had enough on its plate late last month, what with its search for a new Supreme Court nominee, the continuing war in Iraq and the C.I.A. leak investigation. But it found time to add another item to its agenda - stopping The Onion, the satirical newspaper, from using the presidential seal.
...
"It has come to my attention that The Onion is using the presidential seal on its Web site," Grant M. Dixton, associate counsel to the president, wrote to The Onion on Sept. 28. (At the time, Mr. Dixton's office was also helping Mr. Bush find a Supreme Court nominee; days later his boss, Harriet E. Miers, was nominated.)

Citing the United States Code, Mr. Dixton wrote that the seal "is not to be used in connection with commercial ventures or products in any way that suggests presidential support or endorsement." Exceptions may be made, he noted, but The Onion had never applied for such an exception.

The Onion was amused. "I'm surprised the president deems it wise to spend taxpayer money for his lawyer to write letters to The Onion," Scott Dikkers, editor in chief, wrote to Mr. Dixton. He suggested the money be used instead for tax breaks for satirists.

Saturday, October 22, 2005

Helmuth and pocket sevens

I read Phil Helmuth's Play Poker Like the Pros several months ago, and at that time I was convinced that his goal in writing the book was to get more fish at his tables, and to mislead his opponents as to how he plays. In the book, he writes:

To begin with, I recommen playing only the top ten hands and folding on all others. The top ten are, in order of relative promise, A-A, K-K, Q-Q, A-K, J-J, 10-10, 9-9, 8-8, A-Q, and finally 7-7. . . . In general, I recommend playing the top ten hands regardless of your position in the betting order or the number of bets that it will cost you to get involved in the hand. Always raise with these ten hands, no matter what it costs you to get involved.

Pocket sevens? WTF? I thought he was insane.

Fast forward to today...

I'm watching the TiVOed 2005 WSOP main event, day 1, and Helmuth is at the featured table. He's just come back after spending several minutes (and a few blinds) storming around the room after losing to AJo when the jack paired on the river.

He sits down, looks at his cards, and sees AQo. He raises, and to his left, Paul Magriel looks at his pocket sevens and re-raises. Everyone else folds, Helmuth goes all in, and loses when the cards come J-9-4, 9, 5.

Of course, Helmuth rants that only some of the worst poker players in the world would raise that agressively with pocket sevens. Phil, I know a book you should read...

Friday, October 21, 2005

Goblet of Fire: PG-13 (US) and 12A (UK)

(Tip o' the hat to The Leaky Cauldron.) Grown-up Harry Potter is too scary for children:

The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) has given Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire a 12A certificate. Children under that age can watch only if accompanied by an adult. The previous three Harry Potter films were all given a PG rating allowing children of all ages to watch them unaccompanied.

A graveyard battle between Harry and the Death Eaters was deemed too frightening for some young children as well as a character being dragged below ground by a tangle of plant roots. There are also too many scary spiders, which can cause nightmares, for a PG rating.

The language is stronger than in the earlier films, reflecting the maturation of its central characters, but an interjection of “piss off” did not impress the examiners. The long-awaited death scene may also disturb some.
...
The BBFC said: “The tone of the film is much scarier and darker than its predecessors. We expect most parents will still take their children but they should be aware that youngsters of a nervous disposition might be upset.”

Rumor: Serenity on DVD Dec. 20

Serenity on DVD December 20:

From DigitalBits.com:

Our ever reliable industry sources are telling us that Universal will soon announce the DVD release of Joss Whedon's Serenity for 12/20. Early word indicates that the disc may include Whedon audio commentary, along with at least 4 behind-the-scenes featurettes (Future History, We'll Have a Fruity Oaty Good Time, Re-Lighting the Firefly and What's in a Firefly), a video introduction to the film by Whedon and 6 minutes worth of outtakes. Some of the details on the extras comes from the BBFC website (click the link and hit enter). We'll post more as it comes in.

(link and parentheticals in original) (Edit: title change)

Thursday, October 20, 2005

Won't somebody think of the trailer-living highway folks?

Developer seizes land under mobile homes:

A new property owner took over [Lakewood Mobile Court] on Sept. 30 and distributed notices the same day. Residents were told they have one year to leave before the park shuts down.
. . . [M]any of the 30 mobile homes at the park are too old and decrepit to be taken away; half were built around three decades ago or earlier, according to the city. Hilsinger said his probably would collapse if moved.

Some Lakewood leaders fear closures like this one could become more of a trend as neighborhoods improve, making the land more lucrative to developers

Love that Lakewood city government -- living in fear of improved neighborhoods and lucrative development. Sigh.

Netflix download service - dead in the water

Netflix 'indefinitely postpones' online movie download service - Engadget - www.engadget.com

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings confirmed during an analyst call yesterday that they had “indefinitely” postponed the test launch of that new online movie download service they’ve been testing.

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

Wonder no more, but ho hos stay in the northwest

Bakery closure means no more Wonder Bread in Washington, Oregon

A decision by bankrupt Interstate Bakeries Corp. to close a bakery in Lakewood will cut off the supply of Wonder Bread. . . .

The two states will continue to get a supply of [Hostess] snack cakes from a Seattle plant that will remain open.

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

Chewbacca now a US citizen

(UPI) - Chewbacca actor Mayhew given citizenship

Chewbacca is a Wookiee from the planet Kashyyyk, but Chewbacca now lives in Texas. Now, think about that. THAT DOES NOT MAKE SENSE! Why would a Wookiee—an eight foot tall Wookiee—want to live in Texas with a bunch of five meter tall humans? That does not make sense!

(Edit: five meters? what was I thinking? two meters is even too big.)

Monday, October 17, 2005

IMDB - 15 years old today

IMDb 15th Anniversary

The lists that continue to be the backbone of the Internet Movie Database existed before October 17,1990, the fifteenth anniversary date we celebrate this week. They were originally collected and maintained by a hearty group of movie fans who frequented a Usenet group (a text bulletin board) called "rec.arts.movies." The lists included the credits for actors, actresses, and directors, as well as biographical entries for moviemakers who had passed on (known back then as "the 'dead' list"). But we mark the date because on October 17th, our founder, Col Needham, wrote a series of Unix shell scripts which made these lists searchable. The ability to search existing data is one of the key components of the Web experience, and it immediately made the lists more meaningful and useful. Though the new name was still six years off, the Internet Movie Database was, in essence, born.

Wow -- and I thought I was an early adopter, posting my first usenet message in June 1992.

George Bush hates blue people

Yeah, I know the video of the bombing of the Smurf village is week-old news by now, but this blog headline was too good to let pass (thanks, Best Week Ever (Thursday, October 13).)

Friday, October 14, 2005

Incredible Shrinking Poker Rooms

The news is a few days old, but it's big in online poker. Party Poker, who shared the same pool of players with Empire Poker and three other sites (same games, different skins) have booted their four partners. Net.rumors are saying that this is a bad thing for online poker, and a lot of folks are jumping from sites like Empire to the larger crowd at Party, but after seeing Empire's crowd drop from 35,000+ down to it's current 8,433, I'm thinking that the guaranteed money freerolls will be a lot easier to see money in.

2000 pounds of Pong

Engadget spotted this: 334 separate 1970's game systems, for sale on Ebay.

Starving the Timber Beast

From the Cascadia weblog today:

Starving the Timber Beast: The Oregonian today reports on an unexpected consequence of a tight federal budget:  the US Forest Service doesn't have enough money to prepare timber sales in old-growth forests.

From the article:

[T]he administration and Congress are starving the U.S. Forest Service of money to plan sales of the big trees, and fight the inevitable appeals and lawsuits by their defenders. Forest managers say they are no longer pouring their shrinking funds into thankless conflicts they rarely win.

'We can't afford expensive timber sales -- the kind where controversy is engendered,' said Gary Larsen, supervisor of the Mount Hood National Forest. 'We're trying to find those where people can agree on the benefits.'

Sunday, October 09, 2005

Road trip - Day 7

Day 7 – July 1 – Pinetop/Lakeside to Yuma

It's laundry day!

We wake up, bright eyed, bushy tailed, and rested, and leave the campground to head into town to do the washin'. We have breakfast at McDonalds (in the same parking lot), which has a newly re-asphalted parking lot -- we can tell by the smell. Laundry's done in short order, and we head south.

Just after leaving town, we hit the easternmost part of our journey, a few miles in to the Fort Apache Indian Reservation. We stop at the visitor center for an hour or so, which is amazingly high tech for being this far from a major metropolitan area. It really reminds me of a smaller version of museums you'd find in Tacoma or Seattle, with the multimedia displays, very professionally done exhibits, and access additional information electronically. This was nothing like I expected (e.g., the DuPont history museum, run by a couple of people out of one room of their house).

Outside, we walked a labyrinth and chased grasshoppers. It was already getting very, very hot, so we headed back into the air conditioned car, and drove through the Salt River canyon and Tonto National Forest. We stopped for lunch at the Country Kitchen in Globe, review the map, and decide that because of wildfires reported in the area (red triangles on the map), we'd head south to Florence and Casa Grande to I-8, instead of going through Apache Junction and Phoenix. We also had originally planned to stay at a campground in Apache Junction, which would make the next day a long, long drive, but because we were going to head west on the interstate, decided to drive untiil we got tired.

We cross Gonzalez pass, and south on SR-79, where we drive thorough what we still refer to as a Ned forest.

Just before we get to the I-8/I-10/SR-79 interchange, we stop for a few minutes to be sure we're going the right direction, and to get some snacks out of the trunk. We step out of the car, and it's very much like opening the oven door to take out a pizza, with a wave of heat washing over us. Yay, A/C.

40 miles later, the Saturn's built-in thermometer is showing that its 111° out. We need a bathroom break, so we stop at the only gas station in a 15 mile radius. Sign on the door says "No restrooms," but Kim asks anyway. They suggst we drive up SR-84 to Maricopa, but instead we hop across the freeway and go behind an abandoned gas station. While there, we check out a huge tangled cactus, and Krys gets skittish because the sound of the wind in the grass sounds to her like rattlesnakes.

We pull off in Gila Bend for dinner, and after driving the business route, don't see anywhere that we'd dare eat, so we end up stopping at a gas station / Subway / pizza place. We sit near a rowdy pre-teen table, but the food's good.

Continuing on into the sunset, I spot a Weyerhaeuser train in Dateland, and we decide to stop for the night in Yuma. We check out five hotels, and decide to stay at the Days Inn. It's dark, but still in the 90's, so we hop in the pool until we get kicked out at 11. Great day.

Miles today: 405
Miles total: 2328