| Sky Fishing - $10.00 |
[08 Nov 2009|12:00am] |
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https://shirt.woot.com/Blog/ViewEntry.aspx?Id=9882  You Daydreamers never like us Big Picture People. 3rd place in Derby #119: Flight, with 1033 votes! You think living on one of these floating plots of land is easy? You think it’s all sunny skies and puffy clouds like you’re in a permanent Gorillaz video? I’ll bet you never thought about what we’re going to eat up here, did ya? It’s not like I can pull a giant air-sailing island through the Arby’s drive-thru.
Fine. I’ll grab a fishing pole. Maybe I can hook an albatross or something. I’m taking the cat with me; you heat up the skillet. What do you mean, safety line? I’m not gonna fall off. It’s not like some stupid bird is going to pull me over the side.
Wear this shirt: in mocking derision of daydreamers and optimists everywhere.
Don’t wear this shirt: fishing. It’s going to be chilly and you’ll want long sleeves.
This shirt tells the world: “You think that sounds like a good time? Well let me tell you what would go horribly wrong with that scenario.”
We call this color: Curdled Creme Design Placement: Centered
Design Size:
3X – S: 14” x 16.93”
WXL - WS: 10.5” x 12.7”
K12 - K4: 8.5” x 10.28”
Pantone Color(s): 570C – 7490C – 3288C – 5503C – 5615C – 5605C
Please check our before you order. The Woot Tee follows a classic closer-fitting style. If you prefer a baggier look, order a larger size. If there is not a larger size, consider starting a belly-hanging-out trend.
Price: $10.00
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| Something I Must Do |
[07 Nov 2009|12:00am] |
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https://shirt.woot.com/Blog/ViewEntry.aspx?Id=9878  Somewhere, beyond the sea 2nd place in Derby #119: Flight, with 1250 votes! They floated there in silence for a long while, looking up.
No tears. No goodbyes. No pleadings to stay, to turn back and return to their humble life beneath the surface of the water. Only liftoff remained.
She checked the knots to make sure they were secure. She placed the helmet over her head and around her gills. Then, after she had pulled the cord that released the balloon that would carry her up out of the water and into the Sky she so longed to explore, she took his fins in hers.
Slowly, she began to rise. Up, up, up, she went, their fins sliding apart, both resisting the urge to grab hold and never let go.
Higher and higher into the Sky, she climbed. She grew smaller and smaller in his sight with every passing second until, eventually, she was nothing more than a pale orange dot among a sea of stars.
Then, she was gone.
Wear this shirt: if you’ve ever dreamed of flying far above the familiar plastic castles and bubbling treasure chests of your existence.
Don’t wear this shirt: if you are content with the fish flakes you are given by your provincial life.
This shirt tells the world: Go. Follow your heart. Explore.
We call this color: Never Forget Me Navy Design Placement: Centered
Design Size:
3X – S: 12” x 14.85”
WXL - K4: 9” x 11.14”
Pantone Color(s): White – 153C – 724C – 5503C – 7473C – 5473C
Please check our before you order. The Woot Tee follows a classic closer-fitting style. If you prefer a baggier look, order a larger size. If there is not a larger size, consider starting a belly-hanging-out trend.
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| 4 a.m. at the WSOP Final Table |
[08 Nov 2009|11:19am] |
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http://thestrippodcast.blogspot.com/2009/11/4-am-at-wsop-final-table.html
If these women look exhausted, forgive them. It's now 16 hours since the Final Table resumed play at the Rio for the World Series of Poker. The aim is to whittle down the nine players who survived the field of 6,494 in July down to two and then have those two go heads-up starting at 10 p.m. on Monday.
It's been colorful, amusing and grueling. I know many of you don't care about poker, but the mechanics of the game are never why I find this so intriguing. It's the personalities and the life-changing sums of money involved. The four guys left right now include a 46-year-old lumberjack from a Maryland backwater who was never on a plane before July and has now won at least $2.5 million. The guy lives in a double-wide, won entry by winning a tournament in a West Virginia casino that cost him $130 to enter. That's nuts.
Also nuts? This lady, the self-coronated Poker Queen:
Also ALSO nuts, the fact that the $27 million they're giving to the players this weekend is in mounds on a table with a couple of security guards who look like Barney Fifes:
Yes, that's real and not newspaper (they even make that anymore, anyhow?) filler as the Las Vegas Review-Journal's Howard Stutz thought until I walked him over to take a closer look. Perched atop that mound is this, the only bracelet most men would want to own or wear:
 They're being very loose with access for journalists like me who have stage passes...  ...to sit on a risers a few feet from the action and behind some cheering sections. The unmanned Mac there is mine:  The guy to my ghost's left in this image is Eric Ramsey with PokerNews.Com, the guy who is writing these hand-by-hand accounts of the action and that's fortunate because even this close, it's hard to tell what's happening. I've gotten some cool shots like this one when Phil Ivey, the acclaimed poker pro who busted out in 7th place, was pondering a move:  ...and when Doyle Brunson, the elder statesman of the game, issued the "shuffle-up-and-deal" declaration to begin play so many hours ago.
 Here's one of the dealers in earlier times at the table...  ...and an up-close look at the face of the special chips they create each year for this event: Yes, we were young and fresh once, full of energy. Back when we started, there was a huge line in the hallway of spectators who waited hours to get into the Penn & Teller Theater to watch. It's free, but the demand was huge: During breaks, famous poker pros like Howard Lederer, whom I profiled with his sister Annie Duke in the Boston Globe in 2007, signed autographs.  Some of the eccentrics got to take pictures with the Holly Madison of poker, online pro and [link maybe NSFW] WSOP hostess Lacey Jones:  As you can see, Ms. Jones works hard to please:  To preview the WSOP Final Table, I wrote a profile of Ivey, referred to as the Tiger Woods of Poker because he's an elegantly handsome, biracial break-through player whose astoundingly winning consistency has folks believing they are in the presence of greatness. Unfortunately, Ivey seems to despise the press and only speaks to reporters when he's in some way being compensated or is obligated to do so. Thus, the press was not sorry that he played lousy and riskless and busted out in seventh. To return the favor, Ivey was the only one who snubbed even ESPN when he departed, much to the WSOP's chagrin. He surfaced playing on a poker website within an hour, the very definition of gambling addiction. Here's the only shot I got of Ivey up close: Other pros were more accessible. I chatted up Phil Hellmuth and 2008 finalist Dennis Phillips and got these shots of Doyle Brunson and Daniel Negreanu... Doyle was signing his new book, "The Godfather of Poker," which I picked up to read and possibly review. Not sure what Negreanu was doing with his hand there. As the night wore on, I did wander the Rio looking for a place to buy some candy and soda to perk me up. I caught a little bit of this silly show in the casino...  ...and found myself pelted by beads from the Masquerade in the Sky: Not sure what to do with them. Put them on TheStripPodcast.Com trivia question prize list, perhaps? Or hang them on the car rearview as everyone seems to in Vegas? The reason I need to hang in here is because one of the remaining players -- currently in first with a large lead, in fact -- is Antoine Saout, a 25-year-old college dropout from St Martin Des Champs, France, and one of my clients is Agence Presse-France, the French wire service. Clearly the deeper Saout goes, the bigger a story it is over in France. I love how his cheering section has these special scarves they knitted...  ...which seems tres francais, non?
But now, after 265 hands and no sign that these four are going to settle it anytime soon, we're all feeling like we could use a little nap. 
Those legs happen to belong to poker star Mike Matasow, who decided to lay down on the floor and rest. That sounds nice, but some of us have to work here.
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| 12 bands you should listen to |
[08 Nov 2009|10:17am] |
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http://eugenia.gnomefiles.org/2009/11/08/12-bands-you-should-listen-to/ http://eugenia.gnomefiles.org/?p=4693 Here are some indie bands that I believe deserve more popularity. They make beautiful music, and at least 2-3 of them break new ground. Except for one of the following bands, I found out about them through their promotional free mp3s (Malbec, I found them through the Canon HV20 community). So I decided to return the favor and spread the love. If you like their music as I do, please buy their albums to support their work too.
Disclaimer: No songs are stored on this server, and no copyright infringement is intended. The sole purpose of this article is informational. I did my best possible to make sure that the songs linked are legal, stored on official artist/label/PR sites or on music/promotional sites that have the required distribution rights. If you represent one of the labels or artists found below and would like me to stop linking to your songs for some reason, please contact me.
* Cloud Cult
Description: One of the best bands of all time, in my opinion. On their latest record they play some very accessible… experimental music. It’s a fusion of classic, rock, folk, all in one. No one else makes music like this.
Mp3s:
- The Tornado Lessons
- Everybody here is a Cloud
- When Water Comes to Life
- Journey of the Featherless
- Lucky Today
- Take your medicine
- Chemicals Collide
* Longwave
Description: A great shoegazing band. They had a contract with a major, they lost it for not selling well, and then they release independently their best album ever. Each and every song on their latest album could be a huge hit if it had the right backing.
Mp3s:
- Secrets are Sinister
- No Direction
- Theres a Fire
- Everywhere You Turn
* Portugal. The man
Description: An Alaskan band that moved to Portland to hunt their musical dreams. Through the years they went through various experimentation stages and they often introduced brand new takes on existing genres. This is a band that can hop between genres without effort. I highly recommend you buy “The Devil”, and “How the Leopard Got Its Spots” tracks btw.
Mp3s:
- Shade
- People Say
- AKA M80 the Wolf
- And I
- Out and In and In and Out
- The Sun
- The Woods
- Ruby Magic
- Sapphire Magic
* Living Things
Description: Now, this is real rock! Hard, provocative, entertaining. You will love all three of the tracks! Their singer is my kind of guy: he says it like it is.
Mp3s:
- Oxygen
- Mercedes Marxist
- Let It Rain
* Malbec
Description: An LA band with a beautiful and very accessible electro-pop/rock sound. Their music videos (that they shoot by themselves) are wicked too!
Mp3s: (16 songs)
- The Answering Machine, EP1
- The Answering Machine, EP2
- The Answering Machine, EP3
- The Answering Machine, EP4
- The Answering Machine, EP5
* Loquat
Description: Beautiful indie pop/rock from the Bay Area. “Swingset chain” is one of my all-time favorite songs. The version linked below is not the one that ended up on their album though (the album version is a bit nicer).
Mp3s:
- Swingset Chain
- Harder Hit
* The Rosebuds
Description: Another indie pop/rock band (a husband and wife). Very atmospheric, amazing melodies.
Mp3s:
- Leaves Do Fall
- Life Like
- Get Up Get Out
- Blue Bird
- Kicks In The Schoolyard
* Wiretree
Description: Indie pop/rock with a very distinctive guitar sound. Their “Big Coat” song linked below is one of my favorite songs ever.
Mp3s:
- Big Coat
- Back in Town
- Satellite Song
* Glint
Description: A relatively young NY band with easy-listening pop/rock. Good ratio of good songs on each of their albums/EPs.
Mp3s:
- Freak
* The Rural Alberta Advantage
Description: A very nice indie folk/rock Canadian band.
Mp3s:
- Frank Ab
- Don’t Haunt This Place
* Sin Fang Bous
Description: A very interesting experimental folk singer from Iceland. I suggest you buy the “Melt Down the Knives” track from his first album, excellent track.
Mp3s:
- Catch The Light
* Black Gold
Description: A new indie pop/rock band from Brooklyn. Their latest album, “Rush”, is well worth listening to.
Mp3s:
- Detroit
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[08 Nov 2009|11:42am] |
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[07 Nov 2009|11:46pm] |
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I met up with my friend this morning for two classes: yoga and body pump. Today was the first time I've ever done yoga in my life, and it was pretty much exactly like I expected: much too calm for my taste. I will give it another chance because I do need to stretch more, but it doesn't seem like something I'd enjoy doing any more than once or twice a week.
This was my second time doing the body pump class and now I remember why I enjoyed it so much the first time. It's a full body workout using a barbell so I end up working a lot of muscles that I neglect normally by just using the machines, like my back and shoulders. I'm looking forward to going to this class more often and building up strength, especially in my upper body which feels pretty weak right now.
Yesterday was the first time I tried riding my bike to the gym which is about 4 miles away. It was so much fun, I'm almost mad at myself for not thinking to do it sooner. There is even a bike trail for most of way so I don't have to worry too much about cars, which is very nice. The ride home was especially gorgeous since I ended up leaving the gym just in time to watch the sunset and ride home during twilight.
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| Sky Fishing - $10.00 |
[08 Nov 2009|12:00am] |
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http://shirt.woot.com/Blog/ViewEntry.aspx?Id=9882 You Daydreamers never like us Big Picture People. 3rd place in Derby #119: Flight, with 1033 votes! You think living on one of these floating plots of land is easy? You think it’s all sunny skies and puffy clouds like you’re in a permanent Gorillaz video? I’ll bet you never thought about what we’re going to eat up here, did ya? It’s not like I can pull a giant air-sailing island through the Arby’s drive-thru.
Fine. I’ll grab a fishing pole. Maybe I can hook an albatross or something. I’m taking the cat with me; you heat up the skillet. What do you mean, safety line? I’m not gonna fall off. It’s not like some stupid bird is going to pull me over the side.
Wear this shirt: in mocking derision of daydreamers and optimists everywhere.
Don’t wear this shirt: fishing. It’s going to be chilly and you’ll want long sleeves.
This shirt tells the world: “You think that sounds like a good time? Well let me tell you what would go horribly wrong with that scenario.”
We call this color: Curdled Creme Design Placement: Centered
Design Size:
3X – S: 14” x 16.93”
WXL - WS: 10.5” x 12.7”
K12 - K4: 8.5” x 10.28”
Pantone Color(s): 570C – 7490C – 3288C – 5503C – 5615C – 5605C
Please check our before you order. The Woot Tee follows a classic closer-fitting style. If you prefer a baggier look, order a larger size. If there is not a larger size, consider starting a belly-hanging-out trend.
Price: $10.00
|
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| Return of the 2009 World Series of Poker |
[08 Nov 2009|12:29am] |
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http://www.vegasrex.com/2009/11/07/return-of-the-2009-world-series-of-poker/ http://www.vegasrex.com/?p=4277 
After a nearly four month hiatus, The World Series of Poker continued today at the Penn & Teller Theater in the Rio Hotel and Casino.
This is the second year that the tournament has had the “gap” format of play, and I haven’t personally warmed up to it yet.
When I was younger, I hated “to be continued” television episodes, and I typically didn’t watch anything with a soap opera format. I remember the the whole “Who Shot J.R.?” fiasco, and I remember openly wondering why anyone would care.
To this day, I don’t watch shows like “Lost” or “Prison Break”, because I need closure to be satisfied. I simply cannot commit an hour of my life each week to be teased and unfulfilled.
I don’t understand the appeal of cliffhangers.
Imagine sitting on a massage table, and 10 seconds before your happy ending culminated, the masseuse told you to come back in two months. Who would find that appealing?
Read more …
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| Day 37: Tuesday 3 November 2009 by Lord Omlette |
[07 Nov 2009|10:10pm] |
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http://www.omlettesoft.com/newjournal.php3?who=Lord+Omlette&id=1257631825 On the Waterfront
this - 20 minutes exercycle, 8 minutes elliptical. This chick yelled at me because I was insufficiently aggressive on the elliptical.
Ridgefield Park - Thor, SteelNDirt, BadToast & I played Citadels. I took 3rd place first game, lost the second game terribly (but stayed King the entire time!), and left before third game concluded. SteelNDirt fared well under Lord Omlette's reign. Not so much otherwise.
NJ - Voted for Jon Corzine as soon as I woke up. Unfortunately, nowhere near enough people did the same. This is nothing less than a complete disaster for the state. I'm hoping it's a wakeup call for everyone who thinks NJ is a reliably blue state. Listening to Chris Christie's acceptance speech, I'm only now realizing the pure depth of Jon Corzine's unpopularity. This has to be the worst speech I've ever heard. This guy is seriously not ready for prime time. And yet, he just got elected. Josh Marshall
If Corzine had run on his accomplishments instead of Christie's waistline...  After tonight's elections results, Joe Biden must resign, Sarah Palin must be confirmed as his replacement, and then Barack Obama must resign. The people have spoken. Atrios
There's no other logical response. 
TrueCrypt is a free, open-source disk encryption system for whatever operating system your laptop is running. It is free and it is secure. If you are carrying important data on your laptop and you don't want it falling into the wrong hands, then you need to use TrueCrypt. Agents of Israel's Mossad intelligence service hacked into the computer of a senior Syrian government official a year before Israel bombed a facility in Syria in 2007, according to Der Spiegel. The intelligence agents planted a Trojan horse on the official's computer in late 2006 while he was staying at a hotel in the Kensington district of London, the German news magazine reported Monday in an extensive account of the bombing attack. The official reportedly left his computer in his hotel room when he went out, making it easy for agents to install the malware that siphoned files from the laptop. The files contained construction plans for the Al Kabir complex in eastern Syria -- said to be an illicit nuclear facility -- as well as letters and hundreds of detailed photos showing the complex at various stages of construction, according to the magazine. Kim Zetter
If you have data you don't want others to see, then don't leave your laptop where you can't see it!
Ever since I heard Warren Buffett was interested in investing in trains, I've been looking for a mutual fund that invested solely in trains. Unfortunately, I move way, way too slowly. Berkshire Hathaway, the investment vehicle of Warren E. Buffett, said on Tuesday that it planned to buy the 77.4 percent of Burlington Northern Santa Fe it did not already own for $26 billion in cash and stock, in the largest deal in Berkshire history. The deal, which including Berkshire's previous investment and the assumption of $10 billion in Burlington Northern debt brings the total value to $44 billion, represents what Mr. Buffett said was a big bet on the United States. He told CNBC in an interview that railroad operators cannot do well unless American businesses were producing goods and customers were buying them. "It's an all-in wager on the economic future of the United States," he said in a written statement. "I love these bets." DealBook
Unfortunately, Buffett is wrong: no recovery is possible as long as Goldman Sachs is around. And they are not going anywhere anytime soon.
Speaking of the economy not recovering anytime soon: the housing bubble remains artificially inflated thanks to your tax dollars. It seems many people are taking advantage of two major programs at the low end of the housing bubble: the FHA is aggressively promoting lending with only 3.5% down, and the $8k tax credit for buying a house less than $200k. A good realtor can apply the tax credit to last years taxes, making sure that the buyer actually gets the money right away, and the HUD is actually OK with using the $8k to cover the down payment. Remember horror stories of sellers who would pay the slim down payment or closing costs, and leave the stupid investors with losses? Well, today that game is over, except for the government, which proves that stupidity in the private sector actually loses people money, causing them to change their ways. For the government, it's just more incentive to double down. A person who can't afford a down payment should not be in a home. One needs capital to pay for routine maintenance, and most importantly, if something major happens, like if a heater breaks. A renter is someone who does not have the wherewithall to handle these large, unanticipated expenses. It is better for everyone if these people are renters, because otherwise a bad break leaves the property in poor shape, leading to a 'broken windows' problem. No private bank would lend in such a manner, but FHA wants to take the risk, because unlike the greedy bank, it sees the 'bigger picture', presumably. Eric Falkenstein
(Emphasis mine.) Maaaybe he meant to say, "Now, no private bank would ..." In fact, we wouldn't be in this mess today if banks had done their due diligence!
Even though teabaggers had enough clout to force the Republican candidate out of the NY-23 Congressional election, they couldn't win... Does this mean they'll go away quietly? It's my sense that the basic tenets of teabaggerism are: - Low taxes!
- Small government!
- Get off my lawn!
Conspicuously absent are - Jesus!
- Fight the new Hitler!
In particular, the Dick Armey outfit FreedomWorks seems to be about promoting freedom (I guess from taxes and regulations) here as opposed to freedom (to be a quasi-western American puppet state) abroad. And they don't seem to talk about Jesus much. Obviously, all kinds of crazy people showed up at the 9/12 festivities, mean of them Hitler-obsessed and heavy into Jesus. But some of that is just that, to paraphrase James Carville, if you drag a Fox News crew through a retirement home, there's no telling what you'll find. I think that a Jesus-reduced, Hitler-reduced conservative message might work reasonably well in some parts of the country, including the rural northeast. It's probably too anti-union to really work in New York State at large and too anti-immigrant to really work nationally, but if teabagging is traditional wingerism with more Rand and less religion, more Galt and less GWOT, it may end up less fringey that I originally thought. DougJ
I'll gladly support any movement that doesn't involve endless Jesus and endless war. 
If you wish to comment, please do so at the entry itself and not on LJ. Thanks for reading!
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[07 Nov 2009|04:01pm] |
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