I just read an article where Ralph Nader predicts that Barack Obama will choose Hillary Clinton as his running mate. I was very interested to read this because I too have been thinking that is probable. The Obama campaign has been very flashy with their mega Euro speeches, moving the acceptance speech at the DNC to the Denver football stadium.... the choice of VP can't just be drawing straws for some run-of-the-mill political white dude. Obama's got to have something more "change-esque" up his sleeve. The only other thing that would be cooler (really much cooler) would be if he chose a Republican running mate. I don't see that happening because so far Obama seems too much like a Democrat hardliner. But I might start believing in his change if he picked a Republican running mate. (Especially if it was Mike Huckabee! Now that would be the Charisma Team!)
EDIT: If Obama did pick Clinton, there would be no survivors following the media frenzy.
The REALLY coolest thing would be for Obama to pick Ron Paul and then later realize that Ron is the smartest, most logical man he's ever met in Washington and then make him President!
I've had a lack of motivation to post lately. However, I couldn't pass this up. Let me introduce you to Chess Boxing.
Here's how it works: A match consists of alternating rounds of playing chess and boxing. Four minutes of chess.... two minutes of boxing. Between rounds players get 1 minute to "change their gear" in preparation for the upcoming round. Neat concept, huh? Chess Boxing certainly requires the perfect mix of brains and brawn.
And there's already an official "World Chess Boxing Organization". I'm thinking about starting my own local chapter here in the Triangle. I probably won't actively participate because getting punched doesn't seem like fun to me. But I'd be the biggest fan!
Better yet it has motivated me to think up other random pairs of events that could be thrown together to generate a novel sport. Feel free to post your own ideas here.
Basically, a Virginia resident (who happened to be a business professor at Washington and Lee) purchased a $5 scratch off with a top prize of $75,000 only to discover that the top prize had already been awarded... therefore he had no chance of winning it. In retaliation, he's suing the VA lottery for breach of contract. Now, the VA lottery has issued a statement of its own saying it, "stands by the integrity and fairness of its games".
The real tragedy is that if this guy wins some big lawsuit against the state, that money is going to come out of the pockets of taxpayers. Yet another way the lottery falls short of its fund raising promises.
I present to you my three major problems with government-run lotteries:
Problem #1 - State lotteries (in VA and now in NC) almost always are presented under the guise of being extra money for education. (In fact, in NC it's even officially called the "Education Lottery") Who doesn't want that? The ugly truth is that while lottery revenues ARE used for education, they don't provide EXTRA money for schools. Instead they provide an alternate funding source... the government just takes the chunk that formerly was used for schools and moves it to something else. This has happened in almost (if not) every lottery state. So there's my first problem.
"To conclude, lottery revenue is unlikely to materially increase funding for education--and perhaps any other purpose. However, such revenue has political returns for governors that are significant. Hence, citizens should recognize that the claims that lotteries will improve education funding are likely to be as misleading as the odds of their winning those lotteries are meager." - From Lotteries for Education: Windfall or Hoax?
Problem #2 - My second problem is that the highest density of ticket sales are from the lowest income regions of the state. People who are shortest on cash and nearest to the poverty line are most allured by the false hope of the lottery which leads to a disturbingly high proportion of their wages going down the toilet (ie for lottery tickets). Sure they might win, but that brings me to my third major problem with the state run lottery.
Problem #3 - It's freakin' horrible odds! I have to tell you that I have a borderline unhealthy infatuation with gambling. Not in the sense that I blow tons of cash gambling, but I'm very interested in learning about it. Probably because I love games and statistics. Anyhow... back to why the lottery is a rip. Take, for example, the NC lottery's new $1 Line 'Em Up scratch game. The top prize is $3,000. However your odds of winning $3,000 is 1 in 840,000!!! WTF? Let me put it this way... if this game had even odds, I would expect a 1 in 3,000 chance to win $3,000 dollars. If I bought 3,000 tickets I statistically should win the grand prize. In the NC lottery, however, to statistically have a chance of winning $3,000 I would need to purchase $840,000 worth of tickets!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Are you kidding me? Every Vegas casino would go out of business with house edges like that. No one would gamble. For comparison, in American roulette, if you place a bet on any single number, your odds of winning are 1 in 38. The payout is 35 to 1. Therefore, if I put $1 on the green zero 38 times I would expect to win a $35 payout. Thinking another way, it will cost me $38 to win the $35 top prize (statistically speaking, of course). Again, let's compare this to paying $840,000 to win $3,000. Crazy.
So, in summary, that's why government-run lotteries annoy me.
But wait! There's more... this is really absurd. Soon after instituting the NC lottery, the NC Legislature overwhelmingly passed a bill outlawing video poker machines across the state that had previously been legal for years. The stated reasoning was from a morality position! Illegal activities often accompany gambling and generally gambling is bad for people. This from the same legislature that just approved a state run lottery! Wow.
So please... do me a favor. If you have $5 and you're thinking of purchasing lottery tickets... please don't. Here are some alternatives for what you can do with that money.
1) Place it inside a jar and bury it in your yard. 2) Start a Roth IRA. 3) Go buy a Maple View Farms ice cream cone for yourself and a friend. 4) Travel to Vegas and put it all on the green zero.
Things have been extremely crazy lately. Here's the long and short of it, though.
1) After my job interviews I had three offers. 2) I made a decision and chose one of them. 3) We're potentially selling our house. 4) We're staying in NC, though!
That was the extremely brief version, but I don't have the time or willpower to type more. I'll fill you in on the details soon, either in person, or perhaps here at a later date.
But until then.... here's my favorite Simpsons clip EVER!
While having breakfast this morning at our hotel in Nashville, I noticed an interesting headline on the front page of the USA Today:
Coffee could lower odds of dying
Really? This certainly is good news for me. I love coffee, and drink it daily, so perhaps my chance of dying has dropped down to maybe 95%? That would be great.
It's about time I update this thing! I can't say life is any busier than usual... it just feels that way. So, I finished my PhD! I defended my dissertation and I passed! Yay! I can't decide if the journey felt short or long, but I'm pretty sure it's long. Mucho thanks to all of the family and friends who have supported me for ALL these years... not to mention those who made it to my defense or celebrated with me in other ways last weekend. That was truly the most special part and what I will remember most about the weekend. I felt a deep sense of being loved, and that is something that everyone needs once in a while.
My super cool lab gave me a gift certificate to Music Loft in Carrboro, which helped me purchase this banjo!
I've wanted to learn to play banjo for quite some time. One week in, Mamie is probably getting sick of it, but I'm in love. I've been averaging around an hour a day with it so far. Learning the banjo has motivated me to pick up my guitar more as well. There are two things in my life that I can always recall having brought me joy and that is music and fishing. I realized last week that once I became a "grown up" I stopped doing both of these things. WHY IS THAT? I dunno. Anyhow, I also observed that there are far too many things that could be done yet only finite time in which to do them. So I'm going to focus in on those things that bring me joy.
Speaking of fishing, my good buddy T-roy took me out on his boat for some striper fishing on Monday. He's a professional. Below is a picture of something we caught (not a striper, FYI).
It was a fun trip though. I enjoyed my first outing on the Striper Sniper. We're going back in July and I'm definitely looking forward to that.
That's about it for now. How about this heat, btw? I actually got depressed briefly this AM when I looked at the 10 day forecast and saw all the hot dry days ahead. Stay cool!
Sure hasn't been much time to post lately... it is a busy time right now! Mamie and I visited Virginia for the Memorial Day weekend (which happened to coincide with my mom's birthday... I got her a butterfly). While home we saw the new Indiana Jones movie. Apart from the CG animals, I really liked it. Not much deviation from the original formula that works well. On Monday, my dad and I went fishing on the New River, much like we used to when I was a kid, and together we caught at least 12 smallmouth bass. The weather was perfect, the river valley was beautiful, and it was a great time.
As for this week, I'm defending my PhD dissertation on Friday! Yikes! Hard to believe it's actually happening. Some family and friends are coming into town for that, so in addition to getting my talk together, there is much house cleaning to be done! Soon after I'll be heading to Nashville and St Louis for job interviews. I'm praying for clarity and that the "right" job will really stand out. Like, I'm hoping a giant light will shine down during one of the job interviews. Anyhow, I should probably get back to the tasks at hand. But that's what I've been up to!
One more cool graph. Been a nice wet spring so far!
We're still 0.41" behind for 2008 and 4.76" behind for the last 12 months, but lately things have been looking up on the drought front. Keep conserving!
Here's an interview with a state climatologist discussing how we know when the drought is over.
Problem #1 - State lotteries (in VA and now in NC) almost always are presented under the guise of being extra money for education. (In fact, in NC it's even officially called the 
