I think the storm may have passed. At least it will be in remission for a while.
Since it has been a while, lemme offer a recap.
Continue reading Round Up
Category Archives: Rant
“It’s Been One Week”
*blink* Did I just lose a week somewhere?
Sorry about that, but after cramming 40 hours of work into a 72 hour period, I don’t have much to blog about… and the stuff that I would like to blog about, I can’t talk about! Such is the industry I work in.
Exciting time to be in gaming, though, I can tell you that at least.
What’s Next?
MSNBC: Addicted gambler files $20 million casino suit
Her case? Casino management “had a duty to notice her compulsive gambling problem and cut her off.” I call bullshit, just on principle alone.
True, when she went on a multi-day bender and passed out at the tables, management should have had security take her up to her room… nothing worse than trying to play a hand with someone passed out or snoring next to you. But seriously, this lawsuit feels likeis more bunk than normal. Maybe because I follow the gambling industry. Maybe because I’m still bitter that it’s because of people like this that I can play poker online in WA state: I lose a right because a subset can’t control their own actions and we – as a free society – must save them from themselves.
With this woman, though… how on earth can she expect anyone – aside from herself – to monitor her gambling and have them decide when she’s gambled too much? Is the casino supposed to know that this once-lawyer was stealing money from clients to bet? She showed up with money – that’s all they can be aware of. Add to that the fact that she’s actively suing six casinos in two states. What the fuck does she think? That there’s a registry of “problem gamblers” actively reviewed and scanned on each table in Atlantic City and Las Vegas? If she’s so convinced that she has a problem now, why didn’t she get herself help while she was obviously aware of the side effects? Beyond that, some people equate their gambling problems with drug addiction. To that I ask: if your main dealer refused to sell to you, don’t you think you’d find someone else to conduct business with?
Ridiculous. I think I’ll file this in the “American Pastime” folder: I’m convinced that shirking responsibility has replaced baseball as our most favorite hobby. What’s depressing to me is that the file folder is getting awfully full.
Wonder if I can blame someone else for that and sue…
The Economy: A Primer
Here’s some financial facts, tips, and hints for Americans during the coming days…
Continue reading The Economy: A Primer
Brown: Traded To The Rams
*sigh*
Props to the guy for taking time to chat about the trade on KISW this morning… based off the story he tells, I’m inclined to believe it. He simply got a better deal from the Rams (and it’s a better location for him as it’s close to his family) and for that I raise an eyebrow in the direction of the Seahawks front office.
Meh.
The Stupidity Of Hate Crimes
Consider this… the KKK has a legally arranged a public protest for something – whatever, it doesn’t matter. A counter-protest springs up. At some point after the protest, a hooded KKK member is isolated and beaten by one or more non-KKK people. Considering how the current batch of hate crime laws are written, the KKK would be considered a “minority group” by the courts. This means that the people that beat the KKK member would be charged with a hate crime; it would be as if the victim was gay, African-American, or a more “publicize” minority.
Thanks to the hate crime laws, a group that is known for – and proud of – discriminating, terrorizing, and intimidating people of minority groups would now given special protection or at least impact the punishment metted out… how about that for irony?
And people wonder why I think the hate crime laws are ridiculous – like a person that administers a random beating should be less accountable than someone that beats someone specifically.
Uh, No, It’s Not Her Vagina
Toady via MSNBC: If women ruled the world, everything would change, according to former White House press secretary Dee Dee Myers. Politics would be more collegial. Businesses would be more productive. And communities would be healthier. Empowering women would make the world a better place. Blending memoir, social history and a call to action, Myers challenges us to imagine a not-too-distant future in which increasing numbers of women reach the top ranks of politics, business, science and academia.
I can’t speak for the book, but I did see her interview on Today this morning.
Sad to say that she was completely full of shit this morning.
Continue reading Uh, No, It’s Not Her Vagina
ORLY? YARLY!
MSN: Are Starbucks’ ‘skinny’ drinks offensive? […] Much of the controversy focuses on the use of the term skinny to describe the fat- and sugar-free drink. One blogger, “SassySexyShapely,” questioned whether people should be offended by the word. As reported by Starbucks Gossip, one barista refused to use the term, calling it politically incorrect.
I’ll admit that I don’t always blog about critical issues. That I sometimes muse over things that other people might not be all that important… things that certainly aren’t life or death, but I still think they can be important to me. I don’t expect anyone to change because of them; I don’t expect anyone else to even care about them. That MSN picked up this story, it tells me that either it’s a really slow news day or there is a large group of people that really care that calling a drink “skinny” might be offensive to them…
And I say, with the utmost sincerity that I can muster: if this is the most important issue you have in your life, get the fuck off my planet.
Tenacity
International Herald Tribune: Excerpts from Castro’s letter […] For many years I have occupied the honorable position of President. On February 15, 1976 the Socialist Constitution was approved with the free, direct and secret vote of over 95% of the people with the right to cast a vote.
What a fuckin’ loaded comment that is. Even so, it is a leader that out lasted nine Presidents – all of which he was able to annoy in some way – and never relented to external pressure from non-allies…
Gotta admire that kind of tenacity, even if you do condemn his politics and treatment of his citizens. Or not – makes you wonder if we’ll be lifting an embargo any time soon.
Cigars and baseball players anyone?
Thank You, Giants
I just want to send a big ol’ Thank You to the New York Giants for their performance in Super Bowl XLII. Without their help, there would have been a cache of smug and strutting sports fans in Boston and I’m really sick of hearing all of that cheering in the Northeast.
Yes, folks: after winning 18 games and losing the championship… that’s as a calibur of choking that is on par with, if not bigger than, losing the last four of a best of seven in other sports. Miami’s record from 1972 remains intact. And even if my ‘hawks didn’t get to the game, I’m glad a team I still care about won (and a team from a sports city I care so little about lost.)
Thanks, Big Blue.
*sigh*
MSNBC: Giuliani dropping out of Republican race
Meh. Now I have to go take yet another bumper sticker off my Jeep… pah.
Either way, this country deserves whatever it gets, after this election, be it the anamatronic whitehead, the “new” Kennedy, or the chick – considering those options I very well may take an interest in maple leafs.
Um. Really?
MSNBC: Sen. Kennedy, Rep. Kennedy endorsing Obama – Ted Kennedy’s support was sought by all the Democratic hopefuls
Um. Really? I mean does the endorsement of a Kennedy really matter? Teddy is so pickled at this point he could be a Vlassic spokesman and what has his family done for us in the last… what, 20 years? 30? I mean some headlines for TMZ, sure, but does that carry weight? I would think that Obama is currently hiding in his office, figuring out how to minimze the effects of the endorsement.
Then again, all of the Massholes can hardly think for themselves – I’m sure it was a Kennedy that sold them on Boston burying all of their highways, too.
New York had better deliver on Sunday.
Seeing Is Believing
I finally got a chance to see Clerks II last night. Gotta admit it: it was weird seeing Randal and Dante in color but I still enjoyed the movie. The ties to Clerks and Dogma (as well as the other Smith movies) alone was worth the time – there were even a few scenes that made me laugh out loud. I was also amused that an old Burger King was used as the Moogb mock up… Besides any movie with a donkey should be an insta-classic (see Bachelor Party, The Godfather, and Shrek for supporting arguments.)
However, the big take away for me was the scene on the roof where Becky teaches Dante to dance. I dunno what she was wearing up top but… well… Wow.
Living proof that Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 did in fact have a reality-based physics engine rather than a fictional one.
Just sayin’.
Reflections On A Ten Year Gap
A full decade? Who cares anyway?
Fsck it.
NOM NOM NOM – I CAN EATS WURDZ?
oO, a yummy collection of words I get to eat!
I took some advice from Steve and ordered the HDMI->DVI cable from XtremeMac, even though I didn’t want to. Even though it shouldn’t have mattered. Even though I had an HDMI cable and a HDMI/DVI converter that said it was DVI-D… pins to pins and all that right? Yeah, well, the new cable allows my Mac mini to display to my TV via HDMI (and HDMI switch box).
So. For people that are looking for an Apple TV that allows you to rent/buy movies directly from the iTMS and play discs and support HDMI, there is an option: the Mac mini*
Continue reading NOM NOM NOM – I CAN EATS WURDZ?