Lottery ads

The heads of the Texas Lottery Commision say they're in favor of using the actual value of the grand prize rather than the total over 25 years in their advertising.

The way things are right now when they advertise that the winner gets a million dollars, the actual amount turns out to be something closer to half that (before taxes).

Congratulations to a couple of honest government hacks. The Houston Chronicle has the story.

Comment on internet gambling

Comment on internet gambling

Internet gambling

Bush signed the internet gambling bill. Although just the announcement of the bill caused some sites to back out of the US market, I think they're over-reacting and I really doubt that the bill will have any kind of lasting effect.

The bill doesn't make online gambling illegal, it just makes it illegal for banks to process transactions involving sites that engage in already illegal online gambling.

But what online gambling is illegal? I don't think any of it is.

According to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals internet gambling does not violate the Wire Act, it's not illegal.

Learning to type

This is a personal story, not a poker story.

When I was in the 7th grade I had to get a permission slip signed to sign up for an elective wood shop the next year. My dad looked at the slip and saw one of the options was to take typing. "You already know how to cut a 2x4, you're going to take typing", he said.

I didn't want to take typing. All the boys were taking wood shop. I went nuts. He was adament however.

Later he explained why.

In late 1944 he was assigned to a newly formed replacement company at Camp Lee, New Jersey. It was just a collection of bodies who were going to be sent to Europe one at a time. He was the only guy in the company who knew how to type. So he was made company clerk.

That means he was they guy who typed up the individual orders. The 1st Sgt told him that when he got to his name on the list to just skip it, because they needed a company clerk.

He figures knowing how to type saved his life. He finially went to Europe in late 1945 and managed an EM club in Germany. That's where he meet my mother, who thought it was a good idea to get to know soldiers who had access to free food (food was very scarce in post war Germany).

So he made sure I learned how to type.