This is not a man with a blog.

LinkedIn vs Leadership Profiles

By Shabbir | March 4, 2009 |

You know what’s fascinating?  Leadership Profiles have been around a long time in print form, and now on the web, but they’re hopelessly going to be out of date.  With an independent party trying to collect data, like this profile of one of my colleague Scott LaGanga, it will never be as accurate as his…

What fills the vacuum that journalism leaves?

By Shabbir | February 27, 2009 |

Traditional journalism has a business model problem.  As these institutions die in some form, so does the style of reporting that we have long lauded as "journalism" and what fills it does not even approach fair or balance reporting. There's no sense wringing your hands over it, it's done. But maybe it's good in the…

Poker coaching

By Shabbir | February 21, 2009 | Comments Off on Poker coaching

So at the beginning of September 2008 I asked a poker player who had never coached before to be my coach.  The rate we agreed upon is in line with what I've seen others coaching, in fact a little less.  Since he's never coached before, we sort of made it up as we went along.…

25 things about me

By Shabbir | February 12, 2009 | Comments Off on 25 things about me

I joined this meme over on Facebook by posting this list, and thought it was worth repeating it here. 25 things about me Saturday, February 7, 2009 at 10:02pm 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. mu*…

Poker and parenting, right now.

By Shabbir | February 9, 2009 | Comments Off on Poker and parenting, right now.

First, a new baby: And now, a screen shot of a $0.25/$0.50 LIMIT Texas Hold'em game I was in this weekend online. Look carefully at the player in seat 3.  He's sitting on a stack of $10,000+ chips.  Now he can't possibly lose it all at once, but I found this hilarious.  He sat down…

A new member of the family

By Shabbir | February 5, 2009 | Comments Off on A new member of the family

FEBRUARY 5, 2009 (SAN FRANCISCO) – Last week saw the arrival of  Rivaleah Linda Imber Safdar.  Born in her parents' bed with mother, father, brother, two midwives and three friends in attendance, she has brought her family great joy. At 7 pounds 4 ounces delivered in a posterior position, her mother was heard to say,…

Poker homework: what hands beat you?

By Shabbir | February 4, 2009 | Comments Off on Poker homework: what hands beat you?

So my coach and I were talking about some different ways of doing board analysis, and he suggested I compute "the hands that beat me" on every street.  Getting significantly better at board analysis is important as I move up limits from the microstakes I've been playing.  While I'll continue to use poker bonuses on…

The cost of the inauguration

By Shabbir | January 23, 2009 | Comments Off on The cost of the inauguration

On Inauguration Day one of my oldest friends asked on Facebook quite innocently "[I] just read that this inauguration cost 170 MILLION dollars… Wow… Don't care who's going in to office… did we really need to spend that much at this time?" With all the respect that's due someone I've known for 20+ years, I…

How To Build A Cold Frame To Start Your Seedlings

By Shabbir | January 19, 2009 |

God knows I’m a complete punter when it comes to building anything in my workshop, but I’m even worse at growing things, so when there’s work to be done on the house or in the yard, I’m the guy that uses the power tool to build things or (intentionally) kill things.  Given that our yard…

“Falling Off The Edge: Travels Through The Dark Heart Of Globalization”, by Alex Perry

By Shabbir | January 4, 2009 | Comments Off on “Falling Off The Edge: Travels Through The Dark Heart Of Globalization”, by Alex Perry

So I’ve been to some crazy places in this world (Cuba without a visa, Northwest Frontier of Pakistan with minimal bodyguards) but I’ve got nothing on a war correspondant like Alex Perry. His book, “Falling Off The Edge: Travels Through The Dark Heart Of Globalization” is not the anti-globalization screed you might expect it to…