This is not a man with a blog.

A healthy ego is good for your computer security.

By Shabbir | January 31, 2006 |

Mere days after my post about pundits being evil, evidence arrived in my mailbox that in fact having the outsized pundit ego may be hazardous to your computer security.  Here’s a copy of the e-mail:Hello, Your photograph has reached editing stage as part of an article we are publishing for our February edition of Traders…

Your media diet just got expensive.

By Shabbir | January 30, 2006 | Comments Off on Your media diet just got expensive.

It was bad enough when DirectTV severed their relationship with Tivo.  That was the moment I first decided I wasn’t probably going to buy the next version of the product.  I doubt they’ll be much of a market leader in two years if they don’t figure out a way to offer a unique product to…

How to run a poker game directory and hide it from the police?

By Shabbir | January 29, 2006 |

I’m a part of a message board where one of the advertised games was robbed at gunpoint.  (This is starting to happen a lot here in Washington.  This is the third such robbery as of late.) The problem is serious and real: if the community website has a listing of raked poker games (the prosecutable…

Cows are occasionally funny.

By Shabbir | January 28, 2006 | Comments Off on Cows are occasionally funny.

I love these kinds of jokes, as they satirize the excesses of every culture equally.  I find this one particularly hysterical because it has such a heavy amount of Arab and southeast Asian content.  The Europeans, Americans, and other white people are almost an afterthought. —- DUBAI SYSTEM:You have two cows. You create a website…

Why pundits are evil.

By Shabbir | January 26, 2006 |

I ran into prominent former White House spokesperson tonight at one of the million 6pm receptions I get invited to every week.  I chose to go to this one to honor the host (not the former staffer) but ended up talking to the staffer nonetheless.  Pretty quickly the discussion turned to partisanship, this week’s story…

Analyzing a poker game from another point of view

By Shabbir | January 26, 2006 |

Honing your card sense is a lifelong skill that appears to never fail to be useful.  A good card sense for a table can tell you what starting hands to play and allow you to adjust your playing style to a loose or tight game.  Your card sense for an individual player allows you to…

Poker and caffeine

By Shabbir | January 25, 2006 | Comments Off on Poker and caffeine

Last Friday I hit the weekly meetup poker game.  It was fun.  A warm night, and the host lived in the neighborhood.  I lit a cigar and walked the half mile to the game.  I arrived on time, which in fact is too early, we didn’t see five players total for another half hour.  Man…

Conversations with vendors, part 573

By Shabbir | January 24, 2006 | Comments Off on Conversations with vendors, part 573

[Some days, like today, I think I could do a better job at selling other people’s products than they could…-Shabbir] <ring ring> Me: Hello? Vendor: Hi, this is Bob from XYZ Software.  We noticed that your annual subscription to our software inventory product for your desktops is coming up, and we wanted to discuss renewing…

It’s your fault books are too expensive…

By Shabbir | January 23, 2006 | Comments Off on It’s your fault books are too expensive…

I caught this quote today in a Washington Post article about the high price of textbooks for college students. Bruce Hildebrand of the Association of American Publishers said professors choose which books to assign, and they can choose a simple text or one that includes such things as online tutoring and tests. "The average cost…

Police fight crime with games

By Shabbir | January 22, 2006 | Comments Off on Police fight crime with games

"According to the Daily Record, a new scheme was recently launched in the Moredun area of the city to combat anti-social behaviour through the power of games. The local library has been hosting weekly PS2 gaming contests, and hoodies and happyslappers have been flocking to compete with police officers at the likes of Gran Turismo…