| The common wheel at Logan airport |
[Dec. 8th, 2009|10:10 pm] |
Many years ago, I chanced upon the optimal way to deal with the airport luggage carousel. Stand well back, shifting to make sure you can see through the gap in the crowd, and move forward to retrieve luggage when it comes around. While it works better if other people are doing it, it actually works just fine even if other people aren't, because if you're right up against the conveyor belt, people can stand upstream in front of you and block your view, while if you stand back, you can shift around to see what luggage is going back.
And yet, when I wasn't paying attention this evening, I reflexively moved right up to the carousel, making things worse for everyone without making things that much better for me. It did give me the opportunity to reflect on how ingrained the desire to grab every resource available is in me (and by observation, in the species in general.)
But then an interesting thing happened, in that when I moved back, other people took the cue and did so too, perhaps showing that the notion that everyone gains from cooperation might also be expressed in our ancestral heritage.
Or maybe, the Force has power over the weak-minded. :) Whatever the reason, I now have my luggage and am safely home. |
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| coming home |
[Dec. 8th, 2009|08:15 am] |
It was a fairly successful trip- I was up all three days I ended up playing poker, and almost hit one out of the park. On Saturday I lost with AA four times when I was all-in preflop, but still ended up going plus $50 on the night.
I was proud of the last hand I played yesterday, though I don't know if I should have been completely. I was on the button with 99. Threecallers in front of me (it was a very loose game), and the SB, who had just made a disaster call he could have avoided, went all in for his last $14. The three limpers call, and I raised it to $75. Now all the limpers have to fold, and I get to play heads up against AK with a bunch of dead money in the pot. Sweet. He spiked a K on the flop and won the hand, but I was still happy with the way I played.
Except, of course, that perhaps I should have raised the first time I was on the button my 99. :) As it turns out, that would have been worse for me, since now the SB still calls, I probably get some callers behind him, but I don't get to push those players out of the pot pre-flop.
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My flight gets in at 7:30 pm, so no crafty night for me. Maybe I'll get to shovel snow. It'll be good to be home, though I should go play at Mohegan Sun later in the week, I suspect. After all, Christmas is coming. |
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| Chicago bound |
[Dec. 2nd, 2009|11:50 am] |
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I leave tomorrow and get back Tuesday for another long weekend of gaming and poker. Life is good. |
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| For some reason, this just made my day |
[Dec. 1st, 2009|06:07 pm] |
| [ | music |
| | Christmas Lounge from SomaFM | ] |
Not an exact quote, but I heard something like this on the radio today: "NPR is funded by Austria, a global center for nanotechnology and sacher torte." |
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| not-so-easy-listening |
[Dec. 1st, 2009|12:14 pm] |
| [ | music |
| | Christmas Lounge from SomaFM | ] |
It turns out that jazzed-up Christmas music can be a bit disorienting. |
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| Smallworld |
[Nov. 29th, 2009|09:37 pm] |
After getting introduced to it by John at the Dice Dojo in Chicago, I decided to pick up a copy of Smallworld, which a bunch of us played on Friday.
If you've ever played Vinci, Smallworld is a fantasy version of that. If you haven't, it's basically a stripped down History Of The World that you can play in an hour or two. You get a race, it conquers for a while, you get a new race. Each race has a noun and and adjective - :"Dragonmaster Halflings", for example, that change the rules in some way to make each set of conquests fun.
It's for two to five players, though the two player game plays much differently in the zero-sum sort of way that you'd expect. I found it lots of fun, with high replay value. I wouldn't be surprised to see an expansion with new races and attributes before too long. |
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| As writ by the Continental Congress |
[Nov. 26th, 2009|01:14 pm] |
FOR AS MUCH as it is the indispensable Duty of all Men to adore the superintending Providence of Almighty God; to acknowledge with Gratitude their Obligation to him for Benefits received, and to implore such farther Blessings as they stand in Need of: And it having pleased him in his abundant Mercy, not only to continue to us the innumerable Bounties of his common Providence; but also to smile upon us in the Prosecution of a just and necessary War, for the Defense and Establishment of our unalienable Rights and Liberties; particularly in that he hath been pleased, in so great a Measure, to prosper the Means used for the Support of our Troops, and to crown our Arms with most signal success:
It is therefore recommended to the legislative or executive Powers of these UNITED STATES to set apart THURSDAY, the eighteenth Day of December next, for SOLEMN THANKSGIVING and PRAISE: That at one Time and with one Voice, the good People may express the grateful Feelings of their Hearts, and consecrate themselves to the Service of their Divine Benefactor; and that, together with their sincere Acknowledgments and Offerings, they may join the penitent Confession of their manifold Sins, whereby they had forfeited every Favor; and their humble and earnest Supplication that it may please GOD through the Merits of JESUS CHRIST, mercifully to forgive and blot them out of Remembrance; That it may please him graciously to afford his Blessing on the Governments of these States respectively, and prosper the public Council of the whole: To inspire our Commanders, both by Land and Sea, and all under them, with that Wisdom and Fortitude which may render them fit Instruments, under the Providence of Almighty GOD, to secure for these United States, the greatest of all human Blessings, INDEPENDENCE and PEACE: That it may please him, to prosper the Trade and Manufactures of the People, and the Labor of the Husbandman, that our Land may yield its Increase: To take Schools and Seminaries of Education, so necessary for cultivating the Principles of true Liberty, Virtue and Piety, under his nurturing Hand; and to prosper the Means of Religion, for the promotion and enlargement of that Kingdom, which consisteth "in Righteousness, Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost.
And it is further recommended, That servile Labor, and such Recreation, as, though at other Times innocent, may be unbecoming the Purpose of this Appointment, be omitted on so solemn an Occasion.
George Washington ended up styling it as a celebration of the American victory at Saratoga. While this was not the first Thanksgiving, it was recognizably the first government-sanctioned one.
The current date of the third Thursday of the month was established by FDR, possibly as a way to stimulate the beginning of Christmas sales. |
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| that sounds about right |
[Nov. 25th, 2009|08:43 am] |
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"We are all atheists about most of the gods that societies have ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further." - Richard Dawkins |
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| this doesn't happen on a low-carb diet |
[Nov. 23rd, 2009|04:09 pm] |
Mistaking tapioca for mashed potatoes is not recommended. Hot tapioca is not so bad; hot tapioca covered in gravy, not so good. |
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| always think about what data might mean |
[Nov. 22nd, 2009|07:44 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  relaxed | ] |
So a lot of folks on the sky is falling end of the global warming question have been busy sweeping away the problem of the global temperature drop of the last few years. They'd have done better to think through why it might be data in support of their positions.
Apparently, due to the coming and arrival of this last recession/depression, global carbon emissions have dropped on the order of 8% since 2007. If that turns out to match up with the recent average temperature drop, that would be quite an interesting result. |
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| Turning Stone |
[Nov. 22nd, 2009|05:16 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | relaxed | ] |
Nice poker room, fairly poor casino for amenities. If one doesn't gamble, there didn't look to be much there. I guess it's better in the summer, when at least the golfing enthusiasts will have a good time.
Of course, the place could have have been a complete hole-in-the-wall, and the time spent with friends would still have trumped it all. |
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| Apparently, they do 5 dice to stun |
[Nov. 18th, 2009|01:04 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | relaxed | ] |
This headline got me into a brief science fiction reverie:
U.S. ship repels pirates with sonic blasters. |
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| weekend plans |
[Nov. 18th, 2009|09:25 am] |
| [ | mood |
| | relaxed | ] |
I finally seem to be over whatever sickness I've been having, and so I'm going to be heading to Turning Stone casino tomorrow to play poker for four days. it should be fun. |
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| better to be good and lucky, I guess |
[Nov. 15th, 2009|11:42 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | poker | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  sick | ] |
The online poker school I'm in sponsors a weekly tourney, and I won it this week.
It wasn't a huge tourney - 128 people exactly. I made two big mistakes, one of which should have knocked me out of the tournament, but I sucked out on the turn instead. The second mistake came when there were 4 people left, and it did cost me a third of my stack, and let someone triple up to take the chip lead instead of doubling up to leave me with a comfortable margin.
But for the rest of the time, I both played pretty well, and several people decided to kamikaze against me. And in the latter stages, I was just stealing blind after blind, with nobody wanting to make a stand. All in all, a lot of fun, even if I'm still under the weather. |
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| Not just the Yangs, but the Comms, too |
[Nov. 13th, 2009|07:01 pm] |
So, some folks say it's a mistake to try people from Guantanamo Bay in American civilian courts, because bringing them onto U.S. soil will give them more rights.
Pffft. |
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| annoyingly sick |
[Nov. 13th, 2009|06:03 am] |
My sinuses have been draining into my throat for two days now. Other than having a sore throat as a result, I feel ok, but it would be irresponsible for me to go to the casino today. |
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| that's poker |
[Nov. 11th, 2009|08:35 am] |
So the guy who I think made the worst decisions over the course of the final table won it all. This isn't to say he played badly, just that I think others played better, sometimes by quite a bit. |
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| Another amusing bit from last night |
[Nov. 7th, 2009|03:00 pm] |
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The pre-show announcement to turn off cell-phones/beepers etc. was recorded by John Lithgow. Apparently, not only did he go to Harvard, but it was being in a HG&S show that convinced him he wanted to be an actor. |
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| Gilbert and Sullivan |
[Nov. 7th, 2009|11:38 am] |
I got to see The Sorcerer last night, done by the Harvard G&S folks. It was decent. Several of the leads were strong, notably the Sorceror, Alexis, the Parson, and Lady Sangazure. The costuming and choreography were delightful. (They were done by Antonia Pugliese.)
As often happens at Harvard G&S, the chorus was mushy. Having tried to do a chorus in Henry V, with moderate, though limited success, I empathize with the problem. Getting everyone on cue while moving around and projecting to an audience is tricky - we needed another two weeks of rehearsal to have gotten it to what I would consider good - and I gather the show didn't have all that much time to rehearse.
One thing I found quite amusing: the actors playing Wells and Alexis bore a striking resemblance to their counterparts in the movie Topsy Turvy. I thought it worked out well.
All in all, quite a pleasant two hours on a Friday night. |
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