So after many drinks I got to thinking why fucking wait, so I sold off my recently unbanned D3 account and hit the road. After a seemingly much longer 29hour drive I'm back in Cali and ready to get shit started. Dropped in to a morning jiujitsu class to surprise everyone with the early arrival and got some good rounds in, made the mistake again of not grabbing my mouth guard and broke a good chunk out of one of my teeth. Now to get to the chore of unpacking before going back to training tonight. Feels damn good to be back.
I think Political Correctness is pretty fascinating. There is a clear 'party line' if you will on what types of things are OK and which are not.
Anyways, being a bored retired poker player I stumbled upon a pretty interesting (to me anyways) e-battle between some people in Vancouver.
I don't want to present links just yet but the basic cliffnotes are that a university group in Vancouver attempted to open a 'Men's Center.' It arguably, is a response to the Women's Centers that already exist and the extensive "Women's Studies" courses taught there.
Anyways, I'm clearly a bit biased in this regard being a male and such, but it had in the past bothered me a bit that a lot of the groups/student unions at myown Alma Mater were certainly female-centric. I suppose bothered is perhaps not the best word, but it was noticeable that there was a general atmosphere of catering to the female student body ahead of the male one. It was common to walk past signs such as "MEN RAPE" and "MEN CAN STOP RAPE CULTURE" etc. I found these a bit troubling then as I do now.
Anyways, I'm typing a whole lot of blah blah to really just to ask something I'm curious and undecided on. That is, does the replacement test hold weight?
The placement test is simple, and I'll use an example from a random Women's Studies facebook page that was linked on Reddit.
'Woman, without her, man is nothing'
Clearly, a lot of woman would fist pump about a statement like this. Many men would as well. However, clearly if you switch the wording
'Man, without him, woman are nothing'
This would be a horrific thing to say worthy of much derision.
My real question though, is does this 'replace Subject X with Subject Y and now watch the reaction' hold weight as a form of argument?
I've always been aware of the whole women's studies/rape culture liberal stuff that's going on but to be fair I hadn't given it a ton of thought until recently. I also hadn't considered how much things such as Men's Centers may actually be neccesary, particularly in a place such as North America where many young men are involved in military actions and exposed to a lot of raw violence.
Anyways I know that wasn't very cohesive but I wanted to get some of this out there and maybe someone from LP digs it and can give me some interesting links or alternative viewpoints on this type of stuff, cause I'm admittedly ignorant to most of it.
Who's playing? I'm going to be ballin' out of control pretty soon and offering some stakes for events: 3,5,7
Anyone? I could never get staked and now I bet no one even accepts my stakes.
Poker, my book and gold/silverby DustySwedeDude, November 13
Precious metal stocks update
Gold and Silver
I'm gonna take a trip around the world
I'm gonna kiss all the pretty girls
I'll do everything silver and gold
And I got to hurry up before I grow too old
Oh I do a lotta things I know is wrong
Hope I'm forgiven before I'm gone
It'll take a lotta prayers to save my soul
And I got to hurry up before I grow too old
So my portfolio is close to an all time high, thanks in big part to mister Barack Hussein Obama II and his homeboy “Helicopter” Benny Bernanke . His reelection was celebrated with a glass or two of red wine, an rather disappointing Amarone della Valpolicella from 2008. Someone posted a graph of what kind of stuff that has actually increased in value during Obamas time in the white house. Let's just say it's not the USD...
I'd like to write some more about stocks I like just because it makes me actually read a bit more about them and it's kind of fun.
This is obviously not investment advice, I'm not a certified anything that I can think of right now and nothing I write should be taken as a advice to buy any stock, commodity or anything else.
Anyway, remember that Nulegacy Gold thingy I wrote about a few weeks back? When I wrote about it it closed at 15 cents but in a unusual case of good timing I think (not important enough for me to be bother to fire up my other computer and have a look) I got it at 14.5 cents. Thanks to some renegotiation of one of their contracts they now have a much lower burn rate and can concentrate on their most promising project which is good for a few reasons:
1. No more annoying financing until a little later. They'll probably need to do something within a year or a little bit more, but it's still cool.
2. Better chance of getting good drilling results faster which would be fantastic since stock owners would really like to see the stock gain a bit of value before the next round of financing since that will make sure it won't be as damaging to the stock price. Better that a company can raise 1 million by selling a million shares at 1 USD/share then 10 million at 10cents/share, obviously. Not that this particular stock will cost 1 USD any time soon unless the drilling results are really, really great, but you get the idea.
Anyway, that was good enough for a gain of 10% or so the day they broke the news and according to yahoo finance it's now trading at 17cents for a gain of more then 10% in a month or so. I'd brag about this but everyone who knows anything about small stocks knows that penny stocks swings more then a 3 handed game with Isildur, Gus and Ilari where everyone is required to take a shot every 15 min and the game is 5 card PLO. That's why my holdings are fairly small, less then 2% of my portfolio. Oh well, it's a good start.
Another of my favorite companies right now is Avino Silver and Gold mines. It's a silver company in Mexico that I've been buying in different sizes for over a year. If you check out a graph of their stock market price you can tell that I'm down a bit... Not that bad thought, something like 20% on average and it was much worse before the stock started to gain momentum the last month or so. I have a fairly big position in this company. The company have a handful of projects but the ones they're working on is the old Avino Mines and The San Gonzales mine. They already are already making money from stockpiled resources that they process in their own mills so financing will probably work out fine and they hopefully won't need to raise more money before they can declare commercial production. The San Gonzales mine will declare commecrial production of about 250tpd in the near future and The Avino mine (~1000tpd) will do the same sometime 2014 if everything goes according to plan. The last is a key phrase when it comes to miners but except for one little fuck up (for which Wardrop Engenering rather then Avino was responsible) Avino has been very good at not fucking things up, doing things according to plan and keep costs down. What the total silver production would be is kind of hard to guess unless you know much more then me.
The Swedish blogger “Scoris” (http://www.marketsbyscoris.com/ it's in Swedish) has a good relationship to this company and intived the CEO to Stockholm to talk about the company in front of some Swedish stock owners a month or two back. Then they talked about how the Avino Mine, back in 2003 before it got closed due to low silver prices (it was 4USD/oz back then, now it's 30) produced about 800 000 oz silver, between 5 and 10k oz gold and 3.5 M lbs copper per year. That's equal to a production of between 1.3 and 1.6millon oz of silver. Given a production cost per ounce of about 10 (which would be really high, remember, they did not close it until silver was down at 4) that would give 1.3-1.6 million * 20 or between 26 and 32 million USD in profit per year from that mine.
I did some math on the smaller San Gonzales mine and I have no idea if it's correct but my highly speculative guess would be that the cash flow from that one would be about half of the cash flow of the Avino Mine. That'd put their yearly profit from the mines between 40 and 46 million per year within 2-3 years. So basically I think this company with a market cap of less then 50 million seems like a decent enough bet for me considering how they already have most of the material in place, is in a good place as far as finances goes and they tend to do decent enough when it comes to getting shit done on time.
Biggest share holders are Sprott Asset Management and Sprott Private Wealth which is something you very much like to see in Silver miners.
So, what's the downswide then? Well, first of all it's in Mexico. They say parts of Mexico is fairly safe but I'd still like to mention that. Then there is always a risk in miners. Shit happens, basically and fairly often it happens to miners. Then lastly it's the silver price. If silver ever goes back ot where it was 10 years ago or so the company is worth shit. However, if it happens to keep at these levels or increase even more it's great.
Another cool thing is that it's traded, like most mining stocks, in CAD instead of USD which keeps you solidly out of risk of the currency risk known as Barrack's and Benny's dollar printing dream team. Someone mentioned in some topic that the Dollar was even weaker during Bush then during Obama. That's only true if compared to other big currencies. Considering how the Euro, Pound and japanese weird fish money is just trash that's not a hard feat to archive. Compared to stuff people actually need (food, gas etc) and compared to traditional stores of value (gold, silver, maybe land depending on what part of the world you're in) the USD is at it's weakest point in it's history. Just because I sometimes get good stats in pub games when I play Dota 2 and Navi sometimes have players with negative stats in some games I can't claim to be a stronger player then someone in Navi.
My book
So I'm writing on a book about what shit actually costs. So far I've made some fairly extensive calculations on the cost of fining cannabis users. Working on what we are paying our politicians and what we could save by cutting their wages to the level of high school teachers and cutting back on their very extensive pension plans. So far it's about 6k words and I'm aiming to get maybe 60k words in total about all kinds of dumb shit in society. It's really fun for me because I'm really diving into weird laws, public reports and all kinds of stuff that our government has to publish statistics about but no one really reads for the most part. I know that's a bit like admitting to liking German Porn but for some reason I find dull reports on various topics relaxing. Plan is to try to get someone to publish it for me and if rejected just put it up on the internet for free in some way.
Now that I know that I'm incapable of improving my poker skills and it keeps getting worse and worse I still somehow have motivation to pursue the goal of moving up. I had to go down to 50nl after Enet (a small Italian network) had frozen most of my BR and had basically stolen my money for the second time in a span of a few months.
Daily analysis of at least 5 hands and talking strategy with my friends helped me believe I can finally start to understand poker better and crush my opponents but I just can't get myself to focus each time I play and it leads me to spazz a lot which makes me miserable over and over again. I'm completely sick of it but I gotta move on and try to improve no matter what. I need to pay rent, buy food, etc. and I don't really feel like asking my parents for help once I became financially independent a couple years ago. It might result in me being broke soon but I am not going to give up. I've been playing poker for far too long to just let it go.
I'm writing this post because it is a part of the schedule I set myself and I will be doing it on a weekly basis regardless of results or the mood I'm in. I'll try not to whine too much but instead be constructive and look for feedback from you guys.
Since I'm kinda sick of poker in general, I wanted to briefly write about my recent trip to Amsterdam. 3 years ago I felt it'd be a good place to take your girlfriend for a romantic weekend and so I took her there last month. I can't exactly say it was a romantic weekend since all we did was smoke weed all the time. And no, it was not my idea. She loves weed probably more than she loves me Anyway, we spent a lot of time walking around Amsterdam and stoping at coffeeshops for at least a joint. We liked Bulldog, Barney's and one local no-name coffeeshop the most. I'm not sure if there is anything more to add, except for that we had a really fun time and I'm looking forward to going back to the Sin City of Europe some day
I'm about to buy the Unreal deal pack on steam for 39.99, includes unreal 2, unreal tournament 3 black, unreal 2004, unreal game of the year edition, unreal gold.
I like switching between fast paced shooters like unreal, and more methodical shooters like call of duty and halo series.
$10 for openoffice help?by bigredhoss, November 10
so i downloaded openoffice, basically what i need to do is make a short presentation with a recording of my voice that's in sync with the slideshow (i'm not doing it live, just have to e-mail it to the professor, it's just ~5 mins for a foreign language class).
i know how to record myself and convert it into an mp3 file. now i need to know how to make it so that the audio is lined up with slideshow the way i want it and searching for that on google seems like a crap way to spend saturday =[
sooo..if someone can just explain this i'll find some way to ship $10 as soon as i can get it to work, i'm US so i don't have money on any poker sites, i assume paypal should work?
p.s. need to e-mail it by midnight CST tonight, let us go go go!
The only thing I did the three days before black friday was sit at 5/10 hu and not get sat.
Hadn't realized I actually hadn't played a hand in quite awhile before black firday. Found that kind of striking.
I have an amount likely larger than my Father's salary just sitting in internet limbo. Such a weird period in my life from start to finish.
Also got a link sent to me by a friend I had growing up about a guy getting busted with absurd amounts of LSD, Ecstasy and some other stuff (according to news reports anyways) in the Boston area. He was someone I had hung out with at a few WPT/EPT's and was certainly an amicable fellow.
Greetings,
The Diablo III account associated with this Battle.net email address has been closed due to exploitative use of the Diablo III auction house, or association with other accounts participating in similar behavior. This Diablo III account and any Heroes or items associated with the account are no longer accessible.
Note that any open bids or auctions at the time of the account’s closure have been cancelled. Your open bids will be refunded to your original method of payment. Any bids or auctions completed prior to the account’s closure will neither be refunded nor reversed.
Any disputes or questions concerning this account action can only be addressed by Account Administration in an online ticket. Customer Support is not able to investigate account actions over the phone. For more information see: http://us.battle.net/support/en/article/300515.
Clean account never traded with or played with anyone else, played like 5-6hours all legit, made my first 100k gold then only used the ah/rmah buying/selling about 30mins a day in the morning before work. Sorry the game was fucking shit and the only slight enjoyment I could get out of it was playing the market. Oh well's I still have 5accounts I haven't touched in months, but still pisses me off since I had nearly 1bil gold and several mule chars full of decent priced items waiting to be sold.
Pretty much what the title says. I've been thinking about buying a handgun for a few months now. A couple reasons against it are obviously having a toddler in the house and the general risk of accidental gun-firing and all of the safety issues that come along with gun ownership. But from what I've read, and friends I know that own guns, there really is no safety issue if you are responsible with where you keep your weapon(s) and make sure to keep them unloaded and safety locked. The pros of gun ownership seem to far outweigh the negatives, I just never really cared to own one before although my family had a few shotguns/handguns when I was younger.
Some pros to gun ownership:
1. Home defense. Can't hurt to be able to protect yourself in an emergency.
2. Responsibility. I think owning a gun and properly taking care of it and storing it safely will make me a more responsible person, along with forcing some discipline and planning on proper storage and semi-regular range practice.
3. Insurance Policy. With all of the anti-gun and invasion of privacy stuff that the government has been passing in the past 10 years, I want to own a gun/ammunition/way to protect myself and my family in case of an emergency before it gets outlawed. I know this seems unlikely, but when you think about the cost (like $400 for a gun, plus ammunition) you really get a lot of value in protection on your money. Think about Hurricane Sandy; after two days of the power being out there were thousands of people digging through dumpsters looking for food...how many more days before they go looking in other people's houses? If that many people are unprepared for two days with no power, then I don't want to see them at two weeks. Something to think about.
I've pretty much narrowed it down to one gun unless someone has something else to recommend; I believe I'll be going with the Glock 17. It's a 9mm handgun that is the most common gun in the world afaik. Police use them, magazines/ammo is cheap, and it is extremely reliable. There is also the Glock 19 which is 3/4" shorter than the 17 for easier concealment, but I am not really going to need it for that purpose (yet?). Also the grip is a little shorter on those, and although I haven't shot a gun in a long time, I don't think I would like my pinky finger hanging over the bottom of the grip. I plan on going to a local gun shop/range in town in the next week or two and try shooting both of them, and maybe a few other guns to see if anything else calls out to me. SO DON'T ROB ME IN THE NEXT FEW DAYS BEFORE I GET IT OR I'MMA BE MAD.
A good reminder with the holiday giving season ahead.
SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT BEFORE YOU MAKE CONTRIBUTIONS:
As you open your pockets to do a good thing
and make yourself feel good,
please keep the following facts in mind:
----------------------------
The American Red Cross
President and CEO Marsha J. Evans'
salary for the year was $651,957 plus expenses
MARCH OF DIMES
It is called the March of Dimes because
only a dime for every 1 dollar is given to the needy.
The United Way
President Brian Gallagher
receives a $375,000 base salary along with numerous expense benefits.
UNICEF
CEO Caryl M. Stern receives
$1,200,000 per year (100k per month) plus all expenses including a ROLLS ROYCE.
Less than 5 cents of your donated dollar goes to the cause.
GOODWILL
CEO and owner Mark Curran profits $2.3 million a year.
Goodwill is a very catchy name for his business.
You donate to his business and the n he sells the items for PROFIT.
He pays nothing for his products and pays his workers minimum wage! Nice Guy..
$0.00 goes to help anyone! Stop giving to this man.
----------------------------
Instead, give it to ANY OF THE FOLLOWING
PUT YOUR MONEY
WHERE IT WILL
DO SOME GOOD:
The Salvation Army
Commissioner, Todd Bassett receives a small salary of only
$13,000 per year (plus housing) for managing this $2 billion dollar organization.
96 percent of donated dollars go to the cause.
The American Legion
National Commander receives a $0.00 zero salary.
Your donations go to help Veterans and the ir families and youth!
The Veterans of Foreign Wars
National Commander receives a $0.00 zero salary.
Your donations go to help Veterans and the ir families and youth!
The Disabled American Veterans
National Commander receives a $0.00 zero salary.
Your donations go to help Veterans and the ir families and youth!
The Military Order of Purple Hearts
National Commander receives a $0.00 zero salary.
Your donations go to help Veterans and the ir families and youth!
The Vietnam Veterans Association
National Commander receives a $0.00 zero salary.
Your donations go to help Veterans and the ir families and youth!
Make a Wish: For children's last wishes.
100% goes to funding trips or special wishes for a dying child.
St. Jude Research Hospital
100% goes towards funding and helping Children with Cancer who have no insurance and can
not afford to pay.
Rotary Foundation
100% of every dollar contributed goes to the Foundation. Polio Plus, humanitarian efforts etc
Ronald McDonald Houses
All monies go to running the houses for parents who have critical Children in the hospital.
100% goes to housing, and feeding the families.
Lions Club International
100% OF DONATIONS GO TO HELP THE BLIND, BUY HEARING AIDES, SUPPORT MEDICAL MISSIONS AROUND THE WORLD. THEIR LATEST UNDERTAKING
IS MEASLES VACCINATIONS (ONLY $1.00 PER SHOT).
Contact Users: 757 Active, 0 Logged in - Time: 23:19
Anyway, we spent a lot of time walking around Amsterdam and stoping at coffeeshops for at least a joint. We liked Bulldog, Barney's and one local no-name coffeeshop the most. I'm not sure if there is anything more to add, except for that we had a really fun time and I'm looking forward to going back to the Sin City of Europe some day 
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