As advised by Andrea, I clicked over to a movie blog so I can read Jim Treacher-mentary about any/everything, and found a poker entry:

You know, I’d like to see Estella take on Jennifer Tilly. And then they could play poker.

Quite possibly the last thing I expected on a Treacher-written blog funded by a movie producer.

What next? InstantMan on PLO/8? DanM talking constitutional law? The triumphant return of the leader of the East Coast TFG Posse, Ken Goldstein? Best idea…Francis busting down razz.

Think it’s safe to say I’m officially an old guy. I read the business page over lunch instead of sports. I have a quick-link on my toolbar for the WSJ. I would have to search my bookmark file to find one for ESPN. In fact, I don’t understand what they’re saying on ESPN anyway…as in “That’s Persian he’s speaking, not English.” don’t understand. Anyhoo, the big stories:

• Contra John Weidner’s theory about bad names being bad business, Verizon is doing just fine, thankyouverymuch, and they’re closing in on Cingular. From a geek perspective, this is the Iron Cage Deathmatch of CDMA vs. GSM. Anecdotal note: my Verizon (CDMA) phone works in the middle of the Brazos River…customers with Cingular (and other GSM) knock on my cabin door all the time to borrow a phone. Anecdotal note 2: I was in St. Louis yesterday, yet another city served by BroadbandAccess (the Verizon EVDO offering.) Flight delays occurred (I know, dog bites man), yet I was able to stay semi-productive with emails. Sweet.

• IBM has released a new mainframe, the z9. It runs 60 partitions. It supports Linux (that’s not new). 60 freaking Linux images. Makes me wish I was still in a basement being a systems programmer, squeezing out efficiencies. But then I wouldn’t be running around using cellular wireless.

• Hola, mi Latino hermanos! Hispanic radio station is the biggest in Dallas. I gotta get my espanol from barrom level to workable conversation level.

But I did get to read the Sports Page…at least the first two pages. After the second mention of the ESPYs as if that bunch of circle-jerk baloney were something that is a real indication of actual sports meaningfulness, well, I gave it up. Especially when I saw the Page 3 headline that Joe Theeeeesmann was going to be on Monday Night Football. Good gravy. There goes another appointment with the teevee, right off the calendar. Oh, I’ll probably still watch, but I’ll hate it. That guy brings a big fat garbage bag of nothing to a broadcast.

Good news: Stars v. Kings on Oct. 5. Bad news: Kenny Rogers, camera-man hating hurler, grabs some pine at the house for the next few weeks.

Sorry for all those DallaSnooze links…I know their website sucks, but those are my notes. Seeya round like a donut.

Tournament poker is so damn frustrating. Four hours of maintaining an average stack, picking up a few chips here and there by showing a hand, getting blinded off while hoping to pick up a hand, folding the one I should have pushed with, then getting rivered by a flush to get knocked out one hand before the second break.

OK, it was my first one in a loooooooong time. I think I made it to the top third…big whoop. But still…I have got to figure out a way to start the game in top gear. You just can’t try to fit into the flow. I’m horrible at grabbing control and playing the game I want to play. The only answer is more play.

One funny note from the night: the final hand? Loser pushed all-in against a monster chip lead with The Hammer. heh

Cosh on the rules changes.

All I ask is that, when I look at a 1981 game next to a 2005 game, the goalies in the latter don’t look like they flew in from the Planet of the Michelin Men. Call me a crazed romantic, but I want to see the freakin’ glove save come back into hockey.

See Ian Wood’s ad about the dangers of weight training. And buy a Neon George shirt by way of thanks. I would, but there’s no XXL. Keeping the fatties down, as usual…

I can no longer call myself a programmer…not after seeing this — Pong, written in Ajax. Which, I believe is basically naught but javascript.

OK, go waste some hours of your life. And, Scotty boy…make the ball a little bigger for the old eyes out here.

ROFLMAO Line of the Day of the Week:
Yes Scott Chaffin, I know YOU can build a 5-buck PC in a cigar box, with parts scavenged from broken garage door-openers. But I mean, for the ordinary Joe who just needs a machine that works.

My machines do work, by the way…almost as well as that Macintosh, too.

Very interesting concept here:

One might ask why anyone might choose to adopt a blog and host it for free. The answer: the Adopt a Blog project is centered on the issue of the individual’s freedom of speech. Anyone who participates is making a strong statement in favor of free speech, as well as helping to further shape the internet as a tool for the free exchange of ideas internationally. The internet can be a very powerful force.

OK, that sounds very web-hippy-ish. What I do know is that China is going to be a geopolitical force for the forseeable future. I’d much rather hear what the web-hippies have to say, so that I can make a viable assessment of the situation on the ground. And it kind of ties in with my current interest in that Tom Barnett book and all that connectedness he talks about (I’m such an intellectual gadfly - please admire me.)

adoptablog

When I was reading the BaloneyMachine this week, I was cracking up with cynical laughter at the mediots involved in the not-even-a-story about a cable teevee show. I was briefly tempted to launch into yet another rant at the boneheadedness of the publicity sluts, but I was rapidly bored, as in, after 30 seconds of thought. Through the legal process of extreme rendition, I’ll let Big Dick Bennett eviscerate these nano-intellects:

Bernie Goldberg, author of 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America : (and Al Franken Is #37) was ambushed on the Donnie Deutsch show Wednesday. He was invited on the show to discuss his best-selling book (it’s number two on Amazon, behind Harry Potter), and was told there would be a panel of people on both sides of the issue (the culture war), and that the host is a “purple-stater” with no strong partisan views. So many lies, it’s hard to know where to start.

And he answers one of the main questions I had — who in the hell is Donny Deutsch, and why should anyone give a damn? Answer: a nobody, and they shouldn’t.

The hilarious part of Jarvis’ jacked-up goofballness is where he describes Goldberg’s book as a one-way cable teevee shoutfest, then announces that he’s going on a one-way cable teevee shoutfest and encourages us to watch the one-way cable teevee shoutfest that he’s going to be on. And, being in the business of selling more BaloneyMachine, there’s the obligatory response post to critics. No BolognaMachine non-story about Jeff would be complete without a licking link for Jim Bob Wolcott, either.*

* Digression: I’ll likely never forgive Jeffro for exposing me to that effete, sociopathic snot. I could have lived my entire life quite happily without knowing that such a person existed, much less prospered, outside the pages of fiction.

You seriously have to hand it to Jarvis — there’s not a harder-working self-promoter in the bloggiverse. He’s a shining city on the hill for all the world’s money-hungry bloggers. Of course, it helps if you start off as a lifelong media insider with connections up and down both coasts.

In honor of the signing of the NHL collective bargaining agreement:

Me Like Hockey

Massive Shark Caught Off Vineyard
Contestant Misses Deadline By 6 Minutes

Check out the slide show…spooky-wooky. And The Big Reason you will never find me contemplating the potential joys of scuba diving.

Found at Galley Slave, who makes the obvious (but still hilarious!) joke, via Craig Henry.

Relentless Heat in Phoenix Kills 18

YEAH THAT’S HOT UPDATE: Back in one piece. 110° was the high there, and yeah, this Dallas boy can feel the extra 10. And, as stupidly cliched as it sounds, it is a dry heat. I like that city, but there sure are a lot of old people around. Older than me, smart-ass. I feel like a spring chicken there.

A nice tribute to Delbert McClinton from a man (re-)discovering the genius.

I, myself, am guilty of not trumpeting Delbert enough. But every time one of his songs pops up on pTunes, I’m happy. And, of course I sing along, very very badly.

This is truly a Holy Fucking Shit! moment. I hope you’ll pardon me the vulgarity and the lame Onion call-back, but the freaking Online Journalism Review at the freaking Walter Annenberg School of freaking Journalism at freaking USC has written an article about poker bloggers. That’s just kind of wow!

It also raises the fear for me that there’s a shark just ahead that must be jumped. Once the modern journo starts in on something, that’s typically the end of the usefulness of a medium. And I’ve learned so damn much from the poker bloggers, I would hate to see it end. OK, that’s probably crazy talk…I’m Mr. Is that a dark cloud inside the silver lining? lately.

No, I’m not in it…I’m hardly a blogger anymore, and I completely suck at poker.

All I have to say is, “This guy’s only five durn years older than me.”