Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.
- The Financial Times on the US wanting the run the AI show. Can't help but wonder if these are the same countries described that also signed the Paris Accords on climate change.
- Profile of Doug Kerzirian and his new site Only Players. I like Doug.
- Mike Lombardi and the 5-hour rule. Good advice.
Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.
- Science has known for some time that junk food rewires the brain. Yet its still not a bigger story, Old article but new to me.
- Interesting: the story behind Phil Michelson's call to Billy Walters.
- Jonathan Turley on the Democrats and their Hunter Biden problem.
The race is scheduled to begin at 7:02 PM and here's my picks for the race:
Tri-box:
- 2 Tapit Trice odds 3-1 = jockey Luis Saez (maybe the best in the US) with trainer Todd Pletcher.
- 4 National Treasure odds 5-1 - jockey John Valazquez with trainer Bob Baffert. Won the Preakness and this is Valaquez/Pletcher - always a must bet!
- 6 Forte odds odds 5-1 - jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. with trainer Todd Pletcher (was favorite in Kentucky Derby before being scratched last minute).
- 8 Angel of Empire odds 7-2 - jockey Flavien Pratt with trainer Brad Cox (finished 3rd in Kentucky Derby).
Know this Tri-Box is very chalk-lke but those are the 4 horses I like best. A $2 tribox costs $48 - good luck!
More stuff I found interesting or amusing.
- Alabama baseball coach fired after suspicious betting activity. Coaches betting is a no-no. Betting against your team is a real NO-NO.
- Heh Heh
- Anheuser-Busch CEO finally disavows Dylan Mulvaney partnership. Article does a good job documenting the controversy and the ripples it has caused in the beer industry.
- Westinghouse unveils the AP300 - a new small modular 300-400KW nuclear reactor. Faster please!
Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.
- Scientists observe the creation of matter from light.
- Some thoughts on China and the fiat monetary system.
- Agreed - President Eisenhower's Farewell Address is one of the most import political speeches in our history.
- Sports betting is the "new Oxycontin." It's true - so many more people are now betting and on more and more exotic bets. And like drug dealers - the first online bet is usually on the house.
Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.
- Which countries are granted the most new patents? China is kicking the US's ass.
- Dr. David Sinclair and the science of anti-aging.
- Famous historical philosophers brought to life by AI. This is the future of teaching.
- Doug Kezirian with advice on how to bet the NFL draft. I won't watch the draft but I did bet Bryce Young to be the overall number one pick back when the odds were even money.
Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.
"Whiskey has killed more men than bullets, but most men would rather be full of whiskey than bullets." - Winston Churchill
"Any lesson from the past becomes relevant and is applied now. Any planning as well as working toward achieving a particular goal is done now." - Eckhart Tolle
"The greatest prophet on earth can give you no more than a watchword, and the vaguer the watchword the greater the prophet." - Nikos Kazantzakis
"Change your opinions, keep to your principles, change your leaves, keep intact your roots." - Victor Hugo
I freely admit I'm a man with vices. And I enjoy my vices. Right now with both the NBA and NHL playoffs over and football still a ways off in the distance what's a man like me who enjoys sports betting to do?
The obvious and correct answer is bet on baseball which is what I plan to do. I know Las Vegas loves bettors with "systems" but I plan to play a very simple system from today until the start of football. I'm going to bet on the Red Sox, Yankees, and Dodgers but only following a loss. I will also bet on whoever lost the first game of a double-header to win the second game of the double-dip no matter the team. A pretty straight forward system that takes all decision making away.
Both the Red Sox and Dodgers lost last night so today I'm taking Red Sox (+$110) and Dodgers (-$220). All small bets throughout the summer. I'm doing this for fun not to lose the mortgage.
Wil Leitch on new technology and the old specter of the Black Sox.
There's another related danger to sports. When I was in high school I once drank a pint of blackberry brandy in one gulp. Of course I got violently sick. Haven't been able to drink blackberry brandy since. Even the smell makes me nauseous. There's many, many people in danger off making the easily available and highly addictive sports betting their equivalent to blackberry brandy.
These people may abandon sports in disgust the way I've avoided blackberry brandy for decades.
(HT Newmark's Door)
Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.
According to tradition, Plato carved above the door to his school the words, "Let no one enter here who is ignorant of geometry." I suggest we have the same words carved above the doors to Congress because anyone who believes that $3.5 TRILLION in new spending will pay for itself is clearly ignorant of basic math... Oh the surprising things you see on the Internet... Have to wonder if in this new world of legalized sports betting if a major college football team's record ATS (against the spread) will come into play when making invitations to bowl games. For example Rutgers is 4-0 ATS this season which means their fans may be sitting on some extra cash they'd like to spend on a trip to a warm place for a bowl game (gambling is now legal in NJ). Meanwhile Missouri is now 0-4 ATS which means some of their fans available travel funds may have already been spent... It would be curious to see a media friendly and well portrayed politician suddenly start talking about how we cannot let the investigation of Jeffrey Epstein's death to lapse or fall by the wayside - it would be curious to see how quickly the media "unexpectedly" turned against that politician... And speaking of Jeffrey Epstein - was wondering if by chance the FBI has ever gotten a sample of Hillary Clinton's DNA to see if it matched any unsolved murders? Just saying it might be worth it...
More stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.
- How often do underdogs win outright in college football? Interesting - underdogs of between 10.5-14 points win one out of every five games while underdogs of 7.5 -10 points win outright one out of every four games.
- Some good news out of Africa
- Flying X-Wings Into the Death Star: Andreessen on investing and tech. A long read but Marc Andreessen interviews are ALWAYS worth the time.
Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.
Truly believe that NBA TV ratings have been declining for years in large part because seeing a game in person has become too expensive for the average fan. Is it any wonder that these fans lose interest in a sporting event they can't afford? And if average fans aren't bringing their kids to games - that just means fewer new fans in the future... NFL betting note for the upcoming season - despite a 5-11 record the Carolina Panthers only lost 2-games by 8 or more points. Carolina may be worth a few bucks if they are ever getting 7+ points this season (of course if Sam Darnold starts seeing ghosts then I may rethink this idea)... All Aboard Heaven's Choo-Choo... What ever happened to Beto O'Rourke? Remember when the media tried to make Beto a thing? Maybe open borders and taking people's guns wasn't such a good message from the DNC (Beto was poster boy for both issues)... Still say Portland should be re-named New Detroit... Cool news - Walter Isaacson is working on a biography on Elon Musk. Isaacson's past biography subject's included Leonardo Da Vinci, Ben Franklin, and Steve Jobs...
Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.
One of the reasons teachers unions are so adamant against cameras in the classrooms is because they know if parents actually saw the education their children were getting there would be an explosion of home-schooling in response... When people want to know what the 1970's were like... Always chuckle when I recall that Adolph Hitler's sister-in-law was named Bridget. Bridget Hitler. That just makes me laugh because I keep thinking it's actually the name of an Irish punk band... Aggressive Prophesies would be a good name for a sports betting website... Still say that "murmumation" should't just apply to starlings but also to how "news" organizations all seem to shift to carry the same story lines at the same time... Got my copy of the Phil Steele's College Football 2021 Preview magazine in the mail yesterday so that means I'll be happily immersed in college football minutia and scouting reports for the next few weeks..
Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.
- IRS doubles down on taxing FanDuel, DraftKings as gambling. I can see both sides. The DFS sites say it's a game of skill but so is poker and I would consider playing poker for money to be gambling.
- Revisiting the New Romantics. Interesting (but overblown) look lack at the music of the early 1980's. Know the article is Brit-centric but the ultimate art school band from this period was Talking Heads who literally formed at the Rhode Island School of Design.
- If Trump is re-elected, could Oregon be headed for a crack-up? If Oregon breaks into two then California probably won't be far behind.
- "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" - Matthew 6:27
- Trump issues sweeping order stripping job protections from policy effecting bureaucrats. Could be big!
- Interesting - Antonio Brown signs with Tampa Bay
Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.
- I did not know this. I'll have to try it.
- Going out with a bang: Janis Joplin's hard-partying wake.
- A common ant as seen through an electron microscope. Makes me think they should re-make the movie Them!
- University of Colorado's $1.625 million deal with a sports gambling company. College sports are so hypocritical.
- Lockdowns may have had little effect on spread of Covid-19. Sorry but anyone still advocating for lockdowns just isn't following the actual data.
- This thread looks at the year over year mortality in 30-countries. Pretty eye-opening.
Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.
- 5Dimes reaches $46.8 million agreement with Feds
- Suicide of the Liberals (1900-1917 Russia). History doesn't repeat but it does rhyme.
- This always makes me chuckle.
- All Regal Theaters in US to close for good. The costs of States and Nations staying closed keep mounting.
