| There's a rep for that... |
[16 Oct 2009|10:47am] |
...so, with hat tips from Thinking Meat and Joe. My. God., Rob Tisinai gives us the fully mobile, fully unintegratable Republicans in Congress:
|
|
| B-but I can't be 30... |
[08 Oct 2009|07:43pm] |
...so, hey, might as well update. It's not every day you've just turned 30...
First, after a bit of a drought in Senta Moses news, I got some the other day that she's at least getting out and auditioning for stuff. I know this because another actress did a "Guess who I just sat next to in a commercial audition!" blog with her as the subject. And apparently those auditions pay extremely well...I mean, she has enough to get a freakin' WHITE FERRARI...
Anyhoo, what have I been doing to celebrate my b-day? Not much. But I did watch Keith Olbermann's hour-long special comment on healthcare last night, and I don't care who you are, what political persuasion you are, You. Need. To watch it. Too. If you can't get behind what he's proposing, you're just so far gone in loony-land that I feel scared to be a countryman of yours. (Note: It's October 7, for those reading this after the next one goes up.)
That's it for now. Small update, I know. See you when I see you, and maybe before then.
|
|
| My ultimatum... |
[09 Sep 2009|04:41am] |
...so, it comes down to this for healthcare reform.
Two dozen Democrats have said they'd vote no on any healthcare bill with a public option.
President Obama must call their bluff.
And veto any healthcare bill without a public option.
Anything less is a healthcare bailout. And an overwhelming victory for the bloodsucking insurance industry, corporatism, and domestic terrorism.
This I believe.
|
|
| Farker no more... |
[02 Sep 2009|09:32pm] |
...so, Fark.com has lost me.
More to the point, they suspended me, supposedly for my participation in the "Why hasn't Glenn Beck denied that he raped and murdered a girl in 1990?" meme that blew up in their faces. Sure, it's stupid, but then it's also satire; it's the way the right does it, so let's see how they like it.
I would not be complaining, except that they've left this photoshopped bit of demagoguery up without comment.
For those of you not in the know, the picture (sans Obama PS) was dreamed up by a Brazilian ad agency for the World Wildlife Fund. The WWF rejected the ad. The ad agency put it in a competition for best ad, complete with the WWF's logo still on it. That put them on top of Keith Olbermann's Worst Persons in the World list last night. Today, an architecture student at the University of Cincinnati named Zach Fein (and I want absolutely everyone to remember and demonize this name) replaced the WWF logo with an Obama logo. And plastered it all over Fark. He is not suspended. I, however, am.
So, to be clear: A bit of a jest is a bannable offense, but basic libel/slander is all right with them.
Therefore, I will not be patronizing Fark.com anymore.
Nor will I be patronizing any friends of Fark.
Which means, among others, I will no longer be listening to Bob & Tom, nor reading Wil Wheaton's blog.
That's the price they'll be paying for associating with sites like Fark who condone terrorist messages, and regulate rational (and even irrational) responses.
|
|
| Writer's Block: Two Truths and a Lie... |
[06 Aug 2009|07:40am] |
...so, which of these is my lie?
1. One of my hobbies is crashing Hot Wheels cars.
2. I tried out for the Glassmen drum corps, but was rejected.
3. I've visited a lake in Colorado that is named after our family.
|
|
| My little Twitter project... |
[05 Aug 2009|11:14am] |
...so, I've got a little evil Twitter project that I hope I can pull off.
It's simple: On Saturday. I want Senta Moses in the trending topics.
It's no small feat. It takes a lot of tweeting to get something in the trending topics. However, about half the stuff that's there is obscure to about half the world. That's what whatthetrend is for (and, coincidentally, my trendingexplanation hash. Set your clock by it!) And I, of course, am but one man. Even I would not be able to tweet enough to get her there all by myself.
But that is where those of you reading this who are on Twitter come in. But first, the question you'll be asking, right after you answer "Who is Senta Moses?" by reading my Senta posts: "Why Saturday?"
Well, Saturday is Senta's birthday. Last year, the date was a pretty significant one: besides being the date of the Opening Ceremonies, it's one of those peculiar "same date" dates: 08/08/08. This year isn't as numerogically significant, but then, I didn't have the evil Twitter back then.
Anyway, you come in like this: Sometime on Saturday, just tweet her name sometime in the day. Just a simple birthday wish is fine, though if you want to do more, that'll be great, too. Me? I'll be doing my part by posting links to pictures and videos of Senta, for those Tweeters who are unaware of her (of which there hopefully will be far fewer by the end of Saturday.)
And if you're reading this from my tweet, re-tweet it, and spread the word!
|
|
| The costs of living... |
[20 Jul 2009|08:22am] |
...so, I have this to say about the healthcare plan currently put forth.
People are recoiling at the price tag. They don't want it passed solely on the price tag.
...they don't know the cost of not passing this plan. Nor do many of them care, because "I'm not paying for it!"
...but you are. Every uninsured person going to the ER for the sniffles. Every person who needs a life-saving surgery...that's not covered by their insurance. Every person who doesn't have the money to go to the doctor, so that little cyst turns into a malignant tumor. Every person who goes bankrupt from medical bills.
...you're paying for all of those people. Right now. And I guarantee you that price tag is more than the price tag for any sort of public option.
And before people chime in with the "If they die, they won't be a drain anymore"...I'm not even touching the eugenic aspect of that argument, and I'll just chime in with this: The 30 years of production lost by a single 35 year old who dies of a cancer that is treatable, in and of itself, costs more than the price tag of any sort of public option.
So, if you're recoiling at the price of reform...think more of the price of not reforming.
|
|
| Ahem... |
[18 Jul 2009|02:34pm] |
...so, allow me to step away from my gushing to introduce you to someone.
Meet Jim Robinson and the posters at the Free Republic.
Terrorists.
I don't believe giving publicity to them is giving them what they want. It's giving you a warning. There are already terrorists on American soil. And they frequent Free Republic.
(And no, I'm not giving a direct link.)
|
|
| Another breadcrumb... |
[17 Jul 2009|11:28am] |
...so, this is a Senta Moses post.
Last night, ther was a screening of the movie "Ten Years Later", starring Senta, among others (including Rachel Boston and Jake Hoffman, Dustin's son). Senta, of course, was there...and so were the fine press picture-takers at Getty Images. here's a batch of pictures from the event, and here's another. And the poster looks good, too (Senta's in the upper right of the 0 among the images scattered in the numbers...)
And that's my brief Senta update (but not brief enough for Twitter...though I already got that brief!)
EDIT: ...and she just got a ticket from the fashion police. Which, unfortunately, I happen to agree with. Eee-yikes!
EDIT #2: And the website MaximoTV.com did many interviews of the cast, as well. Here's the one they did with Senta.
|
|
| 2009 WSOP winners' gallery, Week 5... |
[03 Jul 2009|08:42am] |
...so, here it is, the final update before the big 'un starts today!
Bahador Ahmadi took Event 47's bracelet, a Mixed Hold-'em event (half limit, half no-limit). He beat John McGuinness heads-up. The rest of the final table included Ylon Schwartz, Karlo Lopez, Barry Greenstein, Matt Woodward, Randy Haddox, Hasan Habib, and Zachary Humphrey.
Event 48 was a Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo event, and was very interesting as Brandon Cantu dominated from mid-day 1 to the final table, having as many as 5 or 6 times 2nd place and once having more chips than the final table combined. Then he took a lot of hits, but fought back through Lee Watkinson and took the bracelet. Also at the final table wer Mathieu Jacqmin, Ted Weinstock, Tommy Vedes, Steve Jelinek, Aaron Sias, Ronnie Hofman, and William McMahan.
Event 49 was the big $50,000 buy-in World Championship HORSE event. Taking the Chip Resse Memorial Trophy and one of three million-dollar paydays was David Bach, beating John Hanson in a 7-hour heads-up battle that lasted until 10:00 am the morning after. Also at this big final table were Erik Sagstrom, Vitaly Lunkin, Huck Seed, Ville Wahlbeck, Chau Giang, and Erik Seidel.
Event 50 was a Limit Hold'em Shootout. 571 played to 64, to a final 8, to Greg "FBT" Mueller winning his second bracelet of the Series, a fate that was inevitable since he played fellow '09 bracelet winner Marc Naalden heads up for the bracelet. Also at the final table were Millie Shiu, David Williams, Matt Sterling, Flaminio Malaguti, Joseph Van Den Bijgaart, and Jose Barbero (yet another notable Magic player...giving us two for this final table. I noted on Twitter when the FT was formed that there were three bracelets and one Magic Grand Prix titles among them...I was wrong. It was three bracelets and three Magic Grand Prix titles.)
Event 51 went to Carsten Joh, beating Andrew Chen heads up. David Walasinski, Steven Levy, Owen Crowe, Thibault Durand, Georgios Kapalas, Jason Helder, and Nathan Page round out this final table.
Event 52 was a "Triple Chance" No-Limit Hold'em event. Basically a two-rebuy event. Jorg Piesert took this bracelet, beating Jason Dewitt heads up. Ben Gilbert, Michael Noda, Jason Somerville, Michael Kats, Karga Holt, William Erickson, and Warren Watson were also final tablists.
David Halpern won Event 53, a Stud Hi-Lo event. William Kohler took 2nd, and Max Stern, Chad Brown, former WSOP tournament director Matt Savage, Zak Gilbert, Brian Swinford, and Allie Prescott made up the rest of the final table.
Tony Veckey defeated Jason Wheeler heads up to win Event 54's bracelet. Also at the final table were Joseph Chaplin, Sergey Konkin, Andrew Malott, Christopher Bonita, Christopher DeMaci, David Jaoui, and Miha Remic.
Event 55 was 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball. Abe Mosseri beat Masayoshi Tanaka heads up for the bracelet. Also at the final table were Julie Schneider (wife of Tom Schneider), John Juanda, Blair Rodman, Bradley Libson, Kristian Lord, and Herezel Zalewski.
And the final bracelet before the big 'un, a shorthanded No Limit Hold'em event, went to Matt Hawrilenko. He beat Josh Birkis heads up. Faraz Jaka, Sean Keeton, Jonas Wexler, and Matthew Waxman round out the final final table before the big 'un.
And the final check of the 2009 WSOP Player of the Year standings has Jeffrey Lisandro at the top. The only player who can catch him is Ville Wahlbeck, since he's the only one within 100 points of Lisandro. Other stats:
Most cashes (tie): Daniel Negreanu and David Baker (8)
Most POY pts without a bracelet: Daniel Negreanu (195)
Most money made (at least until the big 'un): Vitaly Lunkin ($2,696,305; off the strength of the $40k and two World Championship final tables)
Most money made by a single casher: John Hanson ($789,199 for the runner-up finish in the $50k HORSE event)
Multi-bracelet winners: Jeffrey Lisandro (3), Brock Parker, Phil Ivey, and Greg Mueller (2 each)
And now, the big 'un. We play down to 9, then wait 'till November for the final table.
|
|
| 2009 WSOP winners' gallery, Week 4... |
[26 Jun 2009|01:56pm] |
...so, it's time for the Week 4 results show from the WSOP!
We start this week with Event 35, a Pot-Limit Omaha event. Richard Austin took the bracelet, beating Sorel Mizzi heads up. The rest of this final table included Cliff Josephy, Dan Hindin, Rifat Palevic, Felipe Ramos, Van Marcus, Peter Jetten, and Samuel Ngai.
Jordan Smith beat Ken Lennaard heads-up to take Event 36's bracelet. Laurence Grondin, Joe Morneau, Anthony Roux, Pat Atchison, Almira Skripchenko, Andrew Seden, and Jonathan Plens round out the final table.
Event 37 was the World Championhsip Stud Hi-Lo event. Jeffrey Lisandro took his second bracelet of the Series, and third overall. He beat Farzad Rouhani in heads-up action not long after he finished off Mike Wattel. Also at the final table were Francis Mariani, Yan Chen, Abraham Mosseri, Doyle Brunson, and Justin Smith.
Mark Nalden took Event 38's limit hold'em bracelet, defeating Steve Cowley heads up. Ian Johns, Tommy Hang, Alex Keating, Danny Qutami, Jared O'Dell, Jameson Painter, and Rep Porter round out that final table.
Event 39 went to Ray Foley; he beat Brandon Cantu heads up. Also at this final table were Wei Mu, Alex Jacob (and the fro), Tyler Spalding, Jonathan Markham, Chairud Vangchailued, Richard Lutes, and Patrick O'Connor.
Event 40 was World Championship Pot Limit Omaha. Matthew Graham denied Vitaly Lunkin his second bracelet in winning this one. Also at the final: Van Marcus, Robin Keston, Ferit Gabriellson, Stefan Mattsson, Josh Arieh, Richard Austin, and Barry Greenstein.
Event 41 was a No-Limit Hold'em Shootout, and because of the number of entries, there were only five players at the final table. Peter Traply won the event, beating Andrew Lichtenberger heads-up. Maxim Lykov, Danny Wong, and Nasr el Nasr were also at this final table.
Event 42 was an 8 game mixed event. Jerrod Ankenman took the bracelet here, beating Sergey Altbregin heads up. Also final tabling: Chris Klodnicki, Jeff Tims, Jon Turner, Eric Crain, Layne Flack, and Dario Alioto.
Michael Davis took Event 43, the Seniors world championship. He beat Scotty Buller heads up. Barry Bounds, Michael Joseph Morusty, Charles Simon, Dan Delatorre, Art Duncan, Richard McCall, and Robert Beck were also at the final table.
Event 44 was the ever-popular Razz event. Jeffrey Lisandro dominated the final table here and took home his third bracelet of the series, becoming the first to win three at a single series since Phil Ivey did it in '02. He beat Michael Craig heads-up to do it. Also at the final table were Ryan Fisler, Warwick Mirzikinian, Eric Rodawig, Kenna James, Steven Diano, and Allen Bari.
John Kabbaj took the World Championship Pot-Limit Hold'em bracelet in Event 45. He beat Kirill Gerasimov heads up. Eric Baldwin, Davidi Kitai, J.C. Alvarado, Jason Lester, Eugene Todd, Isaac Haxton, and Darryll Fish round out this final table.
And finally for this update, Derek Raymond took Event 46, Omaha Hi-Lo. He beat Mark Tenner heads-up. The rest of the final table included Scott Bohlman, Fabio Coppola, Josh Schlein, Sirous Jamshidi, Michael Keiner, Mark Gregorich, and Pat Poels.
POY Top 10:
1. Jeffrey Lisandro - 3 bracelets, 4 final tables, 6 cashes
2. Ville Wahlbeck - 1 bracelet, 3 final tables, 5 cashes
3. Phil Ivey - 2 bracelets, 2 final tables, 5 cashes
4. Brock Parker - 2 bracelets, 2 final tables, 5 cashes
5. James Van Alstyne - 1 bracelet, 3 final tables, 3 cashes
6. Roland De Wolfe - 1 bracelet, 2 final tables, 5 cashes
7. Vitaly Lunkin - 1 bracelet, 2 final tables, 3 cashes
8. Angel Guillen - 1 bracelet, 2 final tables, 3 cashes
9. Payanote "Pete the Greek" Vilandos - 1 bracelet, 2 final tables, 2 cashes
10. Daniel Negreanu - 2 final tables, 6 cashes
See you next week for the final batch of bracelets before the big 'un, including the $50k HORSE winner!
|
|
| 2009 WSOP winners' gallery, Week 3... |
[19 Jun 2009|05:03pm] |
...so, with that thanks out of the way, time for week 3 WSOP results!
In Event 22, the No-Limit Hold'em shootout, Jeff Carris beat Jason Somerville heads-up for the bracelet. The rest of the 10-man final table included Andrew Margolis, Chris Moore, Joseph Cutler, Brandon Wong, Eugene Katchalov, Michael McNeil, Joshua Tieman, and Mike Shannon.
Event 23 was the World Championship 2-7 lowball draw event. Nick Schulman held off bracelet winner Ville Wahlbeck for his first bracelet. The other final tablists were Steve Sung, John Juanda, Archie "the Greek" Karas, Vince Musso, David Benyamine, and Michael Binger.
After a runner-up finish to Sung earlier in the series, Payanote "Pete the Greek" Vilandos succeeded in getting his second bracelet in Event 24. He beat Andy Seth heads up. Also at the final table were Michael Greco, Glenn McCaffrey, Dean Hamrick, Alan Jaffray, David Lerman, Souvanh Vilayvanh, and Brian Fitzpatrick.
Event 25 was a Hi-Lo mixed event (Stud and Omaha). And it gave Phil Ivey his second bracelet of the series, and his seventh overall, tying him now with Billy Baxter for sixth all-time. He beat Ming Lee heads up and Carlos Mortensen, Dutch Boyd, Jon Turner, Eric Buchman, Thomas Koral, and Peter Gelencser at the final table.
Event 26, a limit hold-em event, went to Tomas Alenius, who beat Jason Tam heads-up. Other final tablists were Al Barbieri, Glenn Engelbert, Demetrios Arvenetes, Dominick Kulicki, Rep Porter, Kim-Phong Duong, and Cole Miller.
Roland de Wolfe wins Event 27, Omaha Hi-Lo, beating Brett Richey heads-up. The rest of the last 9 were Scott Clements, Robert Campbell, Alex Kravchenko, Andrew Black, John Racener, Armando Ruiz, and Anthony Lellouche.
Event 28 went to Mike Eise, beating Jeff Chang heads up. Adolfo Ramirez, Jason Potter, Barry Berger, Zachary Fritz, Avi Braz, Jose Franco, and Michael Zulker round out the final table.
Event 29 was the World Championship Heads Up No Limit Hold 'em Championship. Leo Wolpert beat John Duthie in the finals to take the bracelet. Jamin Stokes and Nathan Doudney were the semifinalists, and Johnny Chan, Dustin "Neverwin" Woolf, Stephen O'Dwyer, and Bryan Pellegrino round out the top 8.
Event 30 was a PLO event. J.C. Tran won his second WSOP bracelet, beating Jeff Kimber heads up. Also at the final table were Jean-Philipp Leandri, Ross Boatman, Dallas Flowers, Rami Boukai, Chad Layne, Theo Jorgensen, and John Juanda.
Event 31 was another HORSE tune up for the big $50k. James Van Alstyne beat out Tad Jurgens heads up for the bracelet, and Mitch Schock, Bryan Micon, Shannon Shorr, Brian Malcolm, Fabrice Soulier, and Ronald Schiffman round out the final table.
Another early event runner up snagged a bracelet in Event 32, as Angel Guillen beat Mika Paasonen heads-up for the NLHE bracelet. Jason Boyes, Steve Kohner, Eric Ladny, Daniel Makowsky, Christopher MacNeil, Antoine Amourette, and Clark Hamagami make up the rest of that final table.
Event 33 was the World Championship in Limit Hold'em. Greg "FBT" Mueller Sui'ed his way to the bracelet, beating Pat Pezzin heads-up. The rest of the final table included Chad Brown, Daniel Alaei, Matt Hawrilenko, Matt Glantz, Michiel Brummelhuis, Soheil Shamseddine, and Kenny Hsiung.
And finally for this week, Eric Baldwin took Event 34's bracelet, beating Jonas Klausen heads-up. James Taylor, Benjamin Scholl, Roland De Wolfe, Andrew Youngblood, Steven Bradbury, Martin Jacobson, and Eric DeFontes round out the top table.
And your updated POY top 10.
1. Ville Wahlbeck - 1 bracelet, 3 final tables, 4 cashes
2. Phil Ivey - 2 bracelets, 2 final tables, 4 cashes
3. Brock Parker - 2 bracelets, 2 final tables, 5 cashes
4. James Van Alstyne - 1 bracelet, 3 final tables, 3 cashes
5. Roland De Wolfe - 1 bracelet, 2 final tables, 5 cashes
6. Pete Vilandos - 1 bracelet, 2 final tables, 2 cashes
7. Angel Guillen - 1 bracelet, 2 final tables, 2 cashes
8. Daniel Alaei - 1 bracelet, 2 final tables, 3 cashes
9. Steve Sung - 1 bracelet, 2 final tables, 2 cashes
10. Daniel Negreanu - 2 final tables, 4 cashes.
So that's all for week 3. See you next week for week 4!
|
|
| An open letter to creationists who cant argue... |
[19 Jun 2009|04:36pm] |
...so, to those of you who like to stifle dissent, so that your opinions can be declared right by default...
...thank you.
For proving to us that you do not mean any of the sermons you spout.
For proving to us that you are nothing but hypocrites.
For proving to us that there are no Christians among you.
|
|
| The art of the uncivil debaters... |
[12 Jun 2009|02:18pm] |
...so, they say you can't teach an old dog new tricks. Well, for the Discovery Institute, that's true. They're recycling old and tired tactics to try and censor the evolution debate.
Recently, Casey Luskin of the DI appeared on F*X News to promote Intelligent Design. Of course, this being F*X News, Luskin basically had the floor to himself. A YouTuber by the name of DonExodus2 used this footage in a video that refutes Luskin's points (seen here in a mirror by fellow science defender AronRa).
Yesterday, that video was taken down by YouTube, by request of the Discovery Institute for violation of DMCA.
Three problems:
Problem the first: The Discovery Institute does not own that video. News Corp. does. They may agree that it should be taken down, but it is News Corp. that has to request it. Anyone else claiming to have a copyright for something they don't in an attempt to stifle discourse has committed a felony under the DMCA.
Problem the second: Even if the DI did own the footage, there's another niggling thing. It's called "fair use." This video was a non-commercial, educational video where the copyrighted work was used for criticism of the idea (which can't be copyrighted, though the actual expression is). The video clearly falls under fair use in U.S. copyright law.
Problem the third: DonExodus2 is a member of a larger YouTube community of evolution-backers who have dealt with this sort of thing twice before. First, when Creation Science Evangelism, Kent Hovind's operation, went after people who were using their videos for fair use. Thunderf00t pointed out that not only do his videos fall under fair use, but CSM released all of their videos into the public domain, as they stated themselves. Once you PD a work, you can't later claim copyright infringement on it, thus committing the same felony as the DI just did.
The second time they tangled with a false DMCA'er was the late, lamented VenomFangX. Who made two crucial mistakes. One, he claimed infringement on his YouTube videos. The YouTube TOS states that by posting your videos on YouTube, you give permission to all other YouTubers to use your videos as they like, as well. Second...he had someone else actually file the false DMCA's, thus having them commit the felony as well! His internets have been taken away by his parents.
Oh, yeah...the DI's done this before, too.
Folks, this is a crass and destructive attempt to stifle discourse by someone who doesn't know how to argue. See my rant on that down below, but Casey Luskin is of the "new school" of arguers that doesn't work, those that know their parents' arguments worked, but don't know why it worked. Who think that if you find a single chink in another guy's armor, you win by default, even if that chink's just a trick of the light. And when you can't win, you silence. 'Cuz if you're the only one talking, you win by default...even if you have to gag anyone who'd refute you.
|
|
| 2009 WSOP winners' gallery, Week 2... |
[12 Jun 2009|01:14pm] |
...so, for the non-Twitterers among you, here are the week 2 winners in the World Series of Poker.
We start with Event 9, a shorthanded No-Limit Hold 'em event. Ken Aldridge took the bracelet down, beating Carman Cavella heads up. The other final tablists were Peter Gould, Bryce Yockey, Charles Furey, and Manelic Minaya.
Event 10 was a pot limit 50/50 event (half Omaha, half Hold'em). Rami Boukai took the bracelet, beating Najib Bennani heads up. The rest of the final table included Ben Grundy, Cornel Cimpan, Daniel Makowsky, Paul Parker, Pawel Andrzejewski, John Kabbaj, and Sigi Stockinger.
Anthony Harb took event 11, a NLHE event. He beat Peter Rho heads up. 3-9 are Jim Geary, Adam Adler, John McGowan, Adrian Dresel-velasquez, Scott Hall (no, not that Scott Hall), Michael Dyer, and Brent Sheirbon.
Event 12 was a World Championship Mixed event, covering basically every game they've awarded a bracelet in. Ville Wahlbeck is crowned the king of diversity, beating David Chiu heads up. The rest of the final table included Scott Dorin, Mark Gregorich, Huck Seed, James Van Alstyne, Mike Wattel, and Todd Brunson.
Keven Stammen beat Angel Guillen heads up to win the No-Limit Hold 'em event 13. Shawn Glines, Bahador Ahmadi, Torrey Reily, Antoine Berube, Oktay Altinbas, Matthey Lynn, and Gregg Merkow also made the final table.
Brock Parker took Event 14, a shorthanded limit hold 'em event. He held off Daniel Negreanu heads-up to get it, and Tommi Horkko, Kevin Hong, Barry Shulman, and Kyle Ray at the final table.
Event 15 went to Brian Lemke, who beat Fabian Quoss heads up. Also at the final table were Thomas "Thunder" Keller, Mike Sowers, Liya Gerasimova, Danny Illingworth, Isaac Baron, Billy Kopp, and Christian Iacobellis.
Event 16 was a Stud event, and it gave Jeffrey Lisandro his second bracelet. He held off a final table of Rod Pardey, Steve Stencil, Nick Frangos, John Juanda, Eric Pardey (Rod's his uncle), Daniel Studer, and Mitch Schock.
The Ladies event went to Lisa Hamilton, beating Lori Bender heads up. The rest of the final table included Mari Lou Morelli, Angel Pedroza, Kimberly Cunningham, Kimberly Rios, Lisa Parsons, Dawn Thomas, and Lisa Santy.
Daniel Alaei won the World Championship Omaha Hi-Lo event, claiming his second bracelet. He beat Scott Clements heads-up. 3-9: Ben Boyd, Daniel Negreanu, John Monnette, Greg Jamison, Thomas Koral, Annie Duke, and Yuegi Zhu.
Event 19 was another shorthanded event, No Limit Hold 'em this time. And Brock Parker took this bracelet, giving him two bracelets in four days. This time he beat Joe Serock heads up, and Russell Crane, Jesse Rios, Alex Wilson, and Clayton Newman at the final table.
John-Paul Kelly won Event 20, Pot-Limit Hold'em. Marc Tschirch was his last victim. The rest of the final table included Jason Dewitt, Kyle Carlston, Aaron Virchis, Tony Steward, Erik Seidel, Andrew Radel, and Ravi Raghavan.
And finally, Event 21, a HORSE event (though not the HORSE event), went to Zac Fellows, beating James Van Alstyne heads up. The rest of the final table included Timothy Finne, Michele Limongi, Chris Amaral, Martin Eiking, Gabriel Nassif (yes, that Gabriel Nassif), and Matthew Hawrilenko.
And here are the current Player of the Year Top 10:
1. Brock Parker - 2 bracelets, 2 final tables, 4 cashes.
2. Ville Wahlbeck - 1 bracelet, 2 final tables, 3 cashes.
3. Daniel Negreanu - 2 final tables, 4 cashes.
4. John Monnette - 2 final tables, 3 cashes.
5. Jeffrey Lisandro - 1 bracelet, 1 final table, 2 cashes.
6. Jason Mercier - 1 bracelet, 1 final table, 3 cashes.
7. James Van Alstyne - 2 final tables, 2 cashes.
8. Phil Ivey - 1 bracelet, 1 final table, 2 cashes.
9. Daniel Alaei - 1 bracelet, 1 final table, 2 cashes.
10. Vitaly Lunkin - 1 bracelet, 1 final table, 2 cashes.
See you next week for more updates!
|
|
| On the decline of the civil debate... |
[06 Jun 2009|12:32pm] |
...so, I've been putting this one off for a while, but with The Ferrett situation, I think I'll have a go at this.
The topic: The degeneration of the debate and the argument.
It seems to me, in the past 20 years, that civil debate has gone downhill. People don't know how to argue civilly anymore. Instead, they play blame games and so-and-so cards, talking points and put-downs, ad hominems and strawmen, completely forgetting the goal of a true debate, a true argument: to convince others, especially outsiders, that you know what you're talking about.
Instead, the goal has shifted. The goal of debate nowadays is to humiliate your opponent in the worst ways possible. It doesn't matter if you're right, so long as your opponent is defeated. Even better, if your opponent is defeated, your way is right by default. This is the tack of many Christianist apologetic movements, especially the "intelligent design" movement. If evolution is discredited, then the Bible is proven right. Even though they aren't even opposites.
And many people will assign blame for this...which is exactly the wrong tack to take. For it is exactly the kind of argument that one wants to avoid. Assigning blame is not, in fact, important. It only facilitates the "new" argument: If your opponent loses, you win by default. Even if your viewpoint is demonstrably wrong, it's right if no one trusts the other guy.
But to go around blaming this, that, and the other thing for an all-encompassing cultural phenomenon like the decline of debate is fruitless, because in the end, it takes a lot of different factors for this to happen. Factors like the internet, anonymous posting, and one-sided news reporting is not the "cause" of the debate failure; it exacerbates it a lot, but it's not the root. Being anonymous is freeing, of course; however, it's not the freedom that aids the decline. Most of these people have these thoughts in real life as well, but wouldn't have said as much...if they knew any other way. Many of these "anonymous" net users are, in fact, the children of maybe the most revolutionary generation in American...okay, in human history: The baby boomers. The Boomers went from a culture where only one person working could support a family of six or seven to one where two people working struggle to support a family of four. And part of that was thanks to them changing the culture of the debate. Instead of being civil, they got rowdy. Protests sprang up all over the place, loud and clear at their meaning. And a generation that didn't have to worry about protesting (thanks to the Great Depression and WWII) didn't know how to handle them anymore. So they took entirely the wrong tack themselves: Instead of being civil themselves, they shut the protesters out. Excised them from the "genteel" society that raised them.
But a funny thing happened: Those excised grew up. Not knowing, never being told "You're wrong, and here's why", they believed they had won the debate by shouting their heads off, getting on the evening news, getting Nixon to end Vietnam, getting LBJ and the Supreme Court to destroy segregation once and for all, their debate tactics worked. Which became the heart of the problem. For they then had their children, Generation X and/or Y, who were raised by the Baby Boomers who knew only their own debate tactics and not the "civil" tactics of their parents and their grandparents before them. Thus, you have Gen X/Y'ers who know that they should shout their heads off, but not why. They know their parents won debates by taking offense, but not how they took offense. So now, every slight, everything that could be construed as bad, is pounced upon, and the debate shifted from being able to prove you're right to being able to prove your opponent is wrong without needing to prove you're right.
Thus, now you have people claiming victory in arguments without being claimed right, people not being able to "agree to disagree", instead having to thoroughly humiliate the other party to protect their argument, people who can't say they're wrong about anything lest they be humiliated, cliquish behavior where anything that offends them is bad, and anyone who has a viewpoint who offends them is no longer a person. And the internet has helped exacerbate this behavior by the parties not even having to reveal who they are, or where they're from. And you have politicians who can't claim they're wrong, who claim "stay the course" is always right and "flip-flopping" is always wrong, even when the course goes off the edge of a cliff. And you have so many who are too stubborn to give any ground whatsoever, and so many who are too cynical to even try to take the ground from the stubborn, and you have what we have today...a debate forum where, unless you can destroy the other person, never mind their argument, you haven't truly won. And even "winning" is overemphasized; to the point where it's the only thing that matters, even if it's impossible. And it blows up in everyone's face eventually, leading to grudges, withdrawal, and even anger to the point of murder. All because, instead of defending one's argument, one has to feel the need to destroy the other person.
|
|
| 2009 WSOP winners' gallery, week 1... |
[05 Jun 2009|05:52am] |
...so, it's WSOP update time! If you haven't been following me on Twitter, here are the bracelet winners and final tables of the first week (or so):
We kicked off with the Casino Employees event. A $500 buy-in for anyone who works at any casino in the world. The bracelet is just as valid as any open event. Andrew Cohen takes this bracelet, beating Paul Peterson heads up. The rest of the final table, in finish order, are Casey Kohn, Grant Yasui, Dulay Elpidio, Robert Rooney, John Mcavoy, Ferdinand Boleski, and Sam Porter.
Event 2 was a special event for this 40th WSOP: A $40,000 buy-in no limit hold 'em event. 201 of the biggest (and richest) poker players on the planet converged on it, and Vitaly Lunkin came out on top with bracelet number two, beating Isaac Haxton heads-up. Greg "Fossilman" Raymer finished 3rd, Dani Stern 4th, Justin Bonomo 5th, Alec Torelli 6th, Alex Veldhuis (boyfriend of Evelyn Ng) 7th, Noah Schwartz 8th, and Ted Forrest 9th.
Thang Luu successfully defended his Omaha Hi-Lo 8-or-better bracelet, beating Ed Smith heads up. The final table also included Ming Reslock, Robert Price, Pascal Leyo, Jordan Rich, Jim Geary, Freddy Deeb (and the shirt!) and Senovio Ramirez.
Event 4 was a special "stimulus" No Limit Hold-'em event. At $1,000, it's the lowest buy-in of any open event this year. Over 6,000 players spread over 2 day 1's (the first time that's happened in a non-big 'un event). And coming out on top is Steve Sung, beating Panayote "Pete the Greek" Vilandos to win the bracelet. James Matz III was 3rd, Larry Sidebotham 4th, Nathaniel Mullen 5th, Dan Heimiller 6th, Jeffrey Oakes 7th, Phong Huynh 8th, and Danny Fuhs 9th.
A special Champions Invitational brought together all 20 of the living WSOP big 'un champions to battle for the first Binion Cup and a 1970 Chevy Corvette. Though there was no bracelet at stake, the bragging rights of beating 19 other champions was coveted. And those bragging rights went to Tom McEvoy, the '83 champion, besting the '02 champ Robert Varkonyi heads-up. One of the better scenes was Greg Raymer running back and forth between this one and the 40k final table he was at at the same time.
Back to the bracelet events, and Event 5, Pot-Limit Omaha, gave up-and-coming pro Jason Mercier his first bracelet. He beat Steven Burkholder heads up. Other final table participants include Kevin Iacofano, Matt Giannetti, Chris Biondino, Jonathan Tare, Dario Alioto, An Tran, and Vic Park.
The first World Championship in the books was Event 6, Seven-card Stud. The winner there was Freddie Ellis, besting Eric Drache heads-up for the bracelet. Also in the final group were Eric Drache, Ville Wahlbeck, Max Pescatori, Hasan Habib, Ivan Schertzer, Greg "FBT" Mueller, and Tim Phan.
Event 7, the first plain 'ol run of the mill NLHE event, was won by Travis Johnson, beating Steven Karp heads up. Also final tabling were Mark Salinaro, Mike Ciotola, Craig McConville, Brian McInnis, Walter Wright, James McClaine, and Kam Low.
And finally, the big news out of yesterday, the winner of Event 8, the 2-7 Lowball Draw event: Phil Ivey, picking up bracelet number 6, after a hard-fought battle with John Monnette heads-up. The rest of the final table included Yan Chen, Eric Kesselman, Rodeen Talebi, Raphael Zimmerman, and Elia Ahmadian.
So, there ya have it, the week 1 winners. Stay tuned next week for week 2...or just follow my tweets!
|
|
| Like a breadcrumb to a starving man... |
[31 May 2009|06:22am] |
...so, a sort of interesting exchange with the subject of Senta Moses occurred on Twitter yesterday, all spurred by my innocent comment about the dropped "Kate's embezzling from her own company" storyline on General Hospital:
@IlGreven: @WubsNet Seems that dropped stories are a habit around Spixie these days...
The Wubqueen then ReTweeted my post and added, "And WINNIE! grr." She knows that Senta's pretty much the only reason I watch GH...and now don't. I only heard about the Kate s/l through her tweet about it.
Robin from GHOFS then chimed in with this:
@GHOFS: @WubsNet I miss Winnie! Tried to find out from Senta M if she was gone a little while back, she didn't give details.
...hmm. Not giving details. Which means a coupla things: Either she is not gone, and isn't talking 'cuz she's afraid she might actually be gone, or she is gone, and isn't talking 'cuz she's hoping she'll be back. Or, maybe she's just rather busy and didn't have time for a long reply, which could be the case.
And if she's really busy, that means she's probably working on something big.
Thing is, the lack of news about anything about that is rather frustrating. Google has been pretty much dry the last two weeks. So for right now, the only things I have to look forward to are Boiler Maker (whenever it comes out, and if it comes out around here, the probabilities of that are fairly low), Ten Years Later (if that ever emerges from development hell, and also carries with it the same ifs as Boiler Maker when it does), and that Hallmark Movie "Wishing Well" (which hopefully won't disappoint me like "Bla...er, "The Kidnapping" did...). I would say "Ronna and Beverly", but Showtime didn't pick that one up, and Senta was just a guest star in that one anyway, so...
Of course, she might be negotiating to get back on Greek, which I've heard is now filming Chapter 5, which comes out in August...right around the same time the Chapter 3 DVD comes out.
But anyway, here's to hoping for more news...
EDIT UPDATE: Ask and ye shall receive! Robin was nice enough to pester a few answers out of Senta today. She has about as much of a clue about whether Winnie will be back as I do. Other stuff: Apparently, she has a Facebook, which I would not know because I don't have one, and FB is remarkably closed for a social networking site. Anyhoo, other stuff..."Boiler Maker" does have a distribution license, which means it'll come out in theaters, but whether it makes it to the boonies remains to be seen; "Ten Years Later" did make it to Cannes, but doesn't have a distribution license yet; and apparently "Grown-Up Clubhouse" is being shopped around. And she says she'd love to come back to "Greek" (which means right now she isn't). Thank you Robin...and Senta!
|
|
| Poker? POKER!... |
[28 May 2009|09:08pm] |
...so, it creeped up on me, but the World Series of Poker is underway! Today started a special 40th anniversary event...the opening No-Limit Hold 'em event? $40,000 buy-in. Yikes. 201 players bought in, and as of this moment, your chip leader is Antonio Esfandiari, with Justin Bonomo and Matt Glantz in the $300K range. David Williams (Twittering at @dwpoker) is already out.
Also, there are currently 21 players still in the Casino Employees event, moved back to the beginning of the Series, as it should be.
And by the way, the WSOP is no longer presented by Milwaukee's Be(a)st Light, but is now presented by Jack Link's Beef Jerky. Plan your boycott accordingly.
See y'all later.
|
|
| navigation |
| [ |
viewing |
| |
most recent entries |
] |
| [ |
go |
| |
earlier |
] |
|
|
|
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
ilgreven's journal