Quick Hitts

If you’re not extremely skeptical of statistical claims, you should be.

“SAGITTARIANS are 38% more likely to break a leg than people of other star signs — and Leos are 15% more likely to suffer from internal bleeding. So says a 2006 Canadian study that looked at the reasons residents of Ontario province had unplanned stays in the hospital.

Leos, Sagittarians: There’s no need to worry. Even the study’s authors don’t believe their results.” (Link requires free but annoying registration.)

This article, first published in 1990, provides a clear explanation of what should and should not be considered “junk food”.

“The real definition of junk food (or, of any of its synonyms) should recognize the fact that the adjective is applied exclusively to food items that children, and especially teenagers, find appetizing. Thus, codliver oil, despite its undeniable greasiness and artificially added vitamins and preservatives, is not junk food, because children loath it. Cake, which children love, is, on the other hand, a non-basic (or junk) food, despite containing flour, eggs, milk products, fruit, and sugar (which, with the inexplicable exception of the sugar, are all individually classed as “basic” food items).”

. . .you’re as old a geek as me.

Jobs Offers Apple Lisa Early Adopters Store Credit

This is such a simple way to improve your cigars enjoyment I’m surprised more herfers aren’t aware of it.

When you clip your cigar, remove less of the cap than you usually do.  Then, when the stogie is somewhere between 1/2 and 2/3s finished, clip it again, taking off an 1/8 of an inch or so.

The second cut removes the tars that the tobacco has been filtering out, and you’ll find the flavor opens up and the thing just tastes better.

This works really well with a punch.  A lot of us don’t like punches because some cigars get skankey about half way down, but the second cut trick takes care of that.

Try this on your next cigar and you’ll be surprised at how much difference it makes.

A friend of mine fell in love with a woman from across the pond, so he packed up and moved a few thousand miles. Since then he’s been publishing an amusing blog about being an American in the UK. Here’s his latest offering:

“Our town has a pleasingly diminutive shopping mall in its center. This mall is named Swan Walk Mall to commemorate The Swan Pub that was destroyed to make way for it, just as the pub, one must assume, was named for the swans it displaced. In 1990 a fetching bronze sculpture was placed in the central atrium, depicting three swans gliding in for a landing on a smooth plane of water, with tiny fountains squirting against the webbed feet and tail of the lead swan to give the illusion of movement.

It is a soothing and appropriate addition to the mall and for sixteen years people have been admiring it, milling around it or even standing next to it without once being killed, maimed or even happy-slapped by these placid figures. But lack of danger isn’t enough to fool the Health and Safety Enforcers; they have deemed the statue unsafe and it must go.

As a final act of lunacy, they have walled the statue off to keep the public away from the danger until they find a secure place to dump it.”

Read the rest here.

Update:  The swans have been removed, but in a rare display of sanity the powers that be have decided to allow them back as part of ongoing renovations.

Poker – Finding Your Game

Poker players are always trying to improve their game. We’ll pay thirty bucks for a book and read it from cover to cover trying to find just one idea that will give us an incremental improvement. But I’ve recently discovered the best way to grow your bankroll – finding your game.

I’ve read dozens of books, studied tricky hands and experimented with different playing styles. But my bankroll always crept down, usually slowly. I’d book a few big wins and lots of little losses and the bottom line was that, over time, loses exceeded winnings. Not by a huge amount, but little by little, chipping away at my bankroll. It didn’t matter what kind of ring game I played, and tournaments were just an exercise in frustration.

In an attempt to improve my no limit game I started playing single table sit-n-gos. And I started winning. A lot. Not a lot of money, because I started out playing two dollar games, but finishing in the money most of the time. After a month I moved up to the five dollar games, and found they were just as easy to win. I moved on to the ten dollar tables, found my winning percentage dropped dramatically, so I’m back to the five dollar games for now.

The best way I’ve found to win is to avoid playing during the early rounds. Until the table is down to six players don’t play anything but super-premium hands, and be quick to lay them down if the flop looks scary. Let the hotshots and loose cannons take each other out. Save your chips for the middle round.

Once you’re down to six players it’s time to loosen up your starting hand requirements, although you should stick to good staring hands in late position. If the flop doesn’t hit you, fold. You’ll need to accumulate some chips to have a shot at the money, but avoid all in situations unless you’ve got the near nuts. And whatever you do, don’t chase flushes or straights unless you can do it for very few chips. Once the blinds hit 50/100 it’s time to start stealing them; until then it’s not worth the risk.

When you get down to four players the real fight starts. Most players will tighten up to avoid busting out on the bubble. If you’ve got a huge chip lead it makes sense to sit back and let the other players take each other out, but if you’re in the middle of the pack (or the bottom of the barrel) this is the time get aggressive. Steal blinds every chance you get. Use pot size raises to grab pots before the turn.

If you’re finding your bankroll is creeping down slowly, maybe you’re just not playing the right game. Experimenting with other games just might get your bankroll moving in the right direction.

I thought this e-mail, from Quick Hitts Podcast listener Don Venardos, was something you’d all enjoy. (Reprinted with Don’s Permission. The only e-mails I publish without permission are the nasty ones.)

My latest thought on healthcare:

Remove the restriction that limits group insurance to employment based organizations, then let the Democrats create the single payer system that they so desperately want for every member of the Democratic party, paid for by the dues from the Democratic party. They can set up whatever fee structure they want and have their own socialist bliss, whilst leaving those of us who prefer free markets to
ourselves.

If it is a good idea then their ranks will swell and they will be happy campers. Of course, with all of their soak the rich rhetoric I have a feeling that there will be no one left in the party to foot the bill, but there is no better lab than the real world, so if they are so convinced that this is the way to go then they should put their money where their mouth is and prove it to the world.

Regards,
Don Venardos