Learning history from archive.org

If you’ve ever wanted to know this, use the Internet Archive’s Wayback machine. I was at the CA Farm Bureau’s site (http://www.cfbf.com/) and noticed they had redesigned.  But when?  I went to archive.org and found the archive of all snapshots of their website at: California Farm Bureau index at Archive.org Then I stepped backwards a…

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Ballot initiatives on the West Coast

I’m closely following the initiatives in California heading into the 2007 primary and 2008 general election.  Though not as busy as the sunshine state, Washington, Nevada, and Oregon do it too. The summary?  Community college funding is on the ballot, along with measures to segregate transportation funding and funding for regional high speed rail.  A…

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Young voters and video

So this is the week of the young voter and video.  CNN and YouTube are congratulating themselves for getting the usually uninvolved 18-24 year old demographic for paying attention to the Presidential debates.  There is no doubt, this is an accomplishment and has traditionally been a hard nut to crack. Also this week, the Pew…

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A session perfectly played

I played a 2 hour session of $4/$8 Limit Hold’em at the Capitol Casino yesterday.  My focus was there and I played the session almost flawlessly.  I don’t even mind that I only made $10.  It felt so good to be in such command of my game.  The tighter I played, the more I realized…

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2020 Visions: Our dystopian future

The future of America could be this bad.  Antibiotic resistant drugs, a new class system based upon money and access to a hypo-allergenic bubble, a black market economy where everything is for sale, severe limitations on "extremist speech", and unchecked violence.  Our society is descending into anarchy and you’ve got a front row seat. The…

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A little every day

I’m slightly embarassed to admit this, but I’m going to take some advice from Jerry Seinfeld though I was never a big fan of the show.  Apparently he told a young comic the secret of his success of how to get really, really good at one’s dream, in his case, writing comedy. He told me…

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Dealing with a losing streak

My poker buddy Chris sent this advice for how to deal with a poker losing streak.  I thought it was thoughtful of him to write it up and so I’ve reproduced it here with his permission.  Thought I continue to have overall net losses uncharacteristic of me, I’m playing a low enough stakes that I’m…

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Those silly airplane video interviews.

You know when you’re on the plane and you see those silly interviews with CEOs of companies you’ve never heard of, in industries you didn’t know existed, making products you doubt you’d ever buy?  I always knew those interviews were "placed" and paid for, but it never occurred to me how much they actually cost.…

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Someone finally found a use for Twitter

Twitter’s service allows you to send messages to an address and have them echoed to your circle of friends.  This would be unremarkable except that Twitter is mostly used between cellphones, creating a sort of broadcast  nightmare if your circle of friends includes only one idiot. I have several acquaintances who talk about signing up…

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Overlooking a bet size in No Limit

So here in california they have baby no limit: $100 maximum buyin, with $1-$1-$2 blinds.  (The ‘dealer’ pays the extra dollar).  I decided to play it today and did pretty well.  Sadly one mistake can lose your stack in no limit, and I made one doozie.  I’m glossing over the hand or two I played…

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