When people learn no tools of judgment and merely follow their hopes, the seeds of political manipulation are sown.
-Stephen Jay Gould
Ignorance is preferable to error, and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing than he who believes what is wrong.
-Thomas Jefferson (Notes on Virginia, 1782)One of the hardest things I think that there is about playing poker successfully is being able to balance not fretting over the uncontrollable aspects of the game with also being able to succinctly and swiftly hold yourself accountable for the aspects of your game that are controllable, and being able to recognize the difference between the two.
The bill's sponsor, Rep. Todd Akin, R-Mo., said America was a nation of God-given inalienable rights and that's why the country is in a war against "radical Islamists." Democrats wouldn't want to "cut and run" in Iraq, he said, "if they understood the importance of those basic principles and that inalienable rights are impossible without a recognition of God and that's why the pledge bill is important and not irrelevant or trivial."Unfuckingbelievable. Apparently American values don't work without magical invisibdeitiesies, and anyone who disagrees is a terrorist. UUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGH.
By the way, I've been watching the World Cup for four weeks trying to decide which NBA players could have been dominant soccer players, eventually coming to three conclusions. First, Allen Iverson would have been the greatest soccer player ever -- better than Pele, better than Ronaldo, better than everyone. I think this is indisputable, actually. Second, it's a shame that someone like Chris Andersen couldn't have been pushed toward soccer, because he would have been absolutely unstoppable soaring above the middle of the pack on corner kicks. And third, can you imagine anyone being a better goalie than Shawn Marion? It would be like having a 6-foot-9 human octopus in the net. How could anyone score on him? He'd have every inch of the goal covered. Just as a sports experiment, couldn't we have someone teach Marion the rudimentary aspects of playing goal, then throw him in a couple of MLS games? Like you would turn the channel if this happened?
Artichoke Joe's NLHE. Folding is extra easy in this game for me because it is so much fun to watch.
The cast:
Player A, a regular who exerts Olympian discipline when he is ahead, sitting for hours without changing mood or stack size. If he takes a big beat that sets off his sense of injustice, he routinely flairs up his chips at the next reasonable opportunity. All regulars know that he does this.
Player B, not a regular. He is a poker player who rarely frowns and who enjoys full gambling pleasure as he routinely and enthusiastically accepts long odds allin headsup as bettor/raiser or caller.
Player C, a regular who doesn't do very well in this story.
Player C took a break. When Player C left the table, Player A was into the game for $2,000 and he had $3,000 on the table, and player B was into the game for $6,000 and he had $3,000 on the table. Player B had given indications of quitting soon, but Player A had not seen them. Player B was playing tight, but wound tight. He was ready to accept his current status of -$3,000 as his final tally for the day, but he was also ready to get even, or even stucker.
While Player C was gone, Players A and B played an allin pot. The money went in on the turn, when Player A had the best hand. Player B had five outs and he got there on the river. So now Player A had no money on the table and no faith in justice. Player B had $6,000 on the table and he was looking around for empty racks. Player A, pissed, bought $6,000 in chips. (Cash does not play.) Two hands later, Player C quit. Player A was exploding inside. He folded the next couple hands and I watched his bits fall back to earth and collect themselves. By the time Player C came back to the table, Player A looked fine at first glance, sitting behind his 6K stack, arranged in his usual way. But he was still plenty scattered inside.
Player C sat down and he saw that Player B was gone, and the usual question came to his mind which is, What happened? Did Player B leave with chips? The answer can usually be found without asking, by looking at stack sizes, and listening to the occasional after-murmurs that take place anytime anyone quits. This time there were no murmurs for him to go on, but he didn't need any. Because Player A’s stack had gone from $3000 to $6,000, Player C drew the obvious yet wrong conclusion that Player A had busted Player B, when actually it was the other way around. The next obvious yet wrong conclusion that Player C drew was that Player A would be locked down extra tight, when actually Player A was likely to head into one his little furies if the cards gave him a nudge.
Player C was into the game for $5,000 and he had $5,000 on the table. He took the big blind and he got pocket twos. One player limped UTG for $20. All the others folded to Player A on the button. Player A made it $200. To Player C, this meant Player A had a big pair. Not ace-king, not a medium or small pair, and not suited connectors. It isn’t merely decent poker for Player C to put Player A on a big pair here and not budge from that read. It would be impossible poker for him to do otherwise. It would be like you going all-in UTG on the first hand of the WSOP, and everyone at the table thinking to themselves, yeah, he must have 7-2 offsuit. That’s how wrong it would be for Player C to put Player A on anything but a big pair here, not because of this raise he made on this hand, but because of a dozen years of other raises just like it, never without a big pair, except maybe just maybe during one of his little tilt spasms, which this obviously wasn’t one.
Player C called the preflop raise, and the limper folded.
The flop came 3-4-5 rainbow.
Player C checked and Player A bet $300. Player C called.
The turn was an ace.
Player C checked and player A bet $500. Player C made it $1000. Player A moved allin, a raise of $3000 more. Player C called instantly and turned over his low straight, expecting Player A to show pocket aces. Player C might have even been thinking that he had tilt odds on this hand all the way from before the flop, that if he could crack Player A real good on a hand, that Player A might steam off some chips in the afterbath. Just one problem. Player A’s tilt was not starting. It was ending. He rolled 67 for the unbeatable untieable.
Tommy
"Attorneys and jurors in the Smalkowski case did a remarkable thing,"” added Kagin. "They checked their opinions about religion at the front door of the court house and looked only at the evidence."”Good stuff. On that subject, dead pope JP2 told scientists not to study the origin of the universe. Luckily, those that defy him probably won't be burned alive.
When you go to a restaurant on the weekends and it's busy they start a waiting list. They start calling out names, they say "Dufrene, party of two. Dufrene, party of two." And if no one answers they'll say their name again. "Dufrene, party of two, Dufrene, party of two." But then if no one answers they'll just go right on to the next name. "Bush, party of three." Yeah, but what happened to the Dufrenes? No one seems to give a shit. Who can eat at a time like this - people are missing. You fuckers are selfish... the Dufrenes are in someone's trunk right now, with duct tape over their mouths. And they're hungry! That's a double whammy. We need help. Bush, search party of three! You can eat when you find the Dufrenes.
The (Functionally) Insane Fundamentalists - those that absolutely refuse to consider the merits of any idea that contradicts their religious beliefs in any way. These people simply have closed their minds to reason entirely, and live their lives on blind faith. Not only do they shun basic values that most of the free world has embraced, they often endorse the use of violence to advance their Insane Fundamentalist beliefs. In fact, many of them believe that being killed while fighting for their beliefs will win them eternal rewards in their afterlife. Harris argues convincingly that such people being armed with weapons of mass destruction pose a grave threat to the entire world.
