Sunday Night Continuous Droning......





.....sorry to the three folks who read this.....I'd been traveling, and trying to leave the Laptop aside, sooo......





Cheap hits.....two full seconds after the fact!





See for yourself......what a skumbag! Still think Lindy Ruff shoulda jumped the glass and went after Hitler-on-Ice himself, Bryan Murray...and yet Lindy is the one who gets fined? Jesus Christ...after that cheap, dirty hit, I'd be rather upset if my coach did NOT send out the goons to send a message......











Old Man River......





Went down to Northern Mississippi a couple weekends ago. Few interesting things.....






Old School Hot Wings: It's this little shack right on Highway 61 in Walls, Mississippi. You got to try it.....I mean, I like to think of myself as a true connoisseur of wings, and I can't recommend this place enough. I did, however, make the mistake of ordering "very hot" and I paid the price for that. Wasn't the hottest level of the wings they offer, though....THAT is called "Mississippi Burning" and possess chemical properties that are known to have the ability to corrode diamond.





Highway 61: Road of the Blues....and also an amusing flick that's well worth seeing. Fast drivers but slow service and sllllloooooow pace of life.

















Having to pick up things like toofpaste, deodorant, etc., I stopped at a supermarket (more like a grocery store, actually) called "Piggly Wiggly" (which is what we all used to refer to New York State Troopers as back in my Buffalo days), and then saw these huge-ass billboards saying "shop historic, scenic, old downtown Tunica." Cool...I wanted to pick up some authentic Deep-South gifts for friends back in Portlandia, so this sounds like it's gonna fit the bill.





Errrmmm......no.





DID find a cute little gift shop. And I discovered that Downtown Tunica is lovely, clean, historic, Mayberry-like.........and completely closed with nobody on the sidewalks at all and ZERO shops and stores of ANY sort open.....looked like a neutron bomb hit it! Don't try to go gift shopping there on a Saturday afternoon at around 1pm.....the town is closed.....





Golly....there was no Internet access at all in my hotel room. Huh?? I mean, just about ALL hotels and a lot of motels have some sort of Internet access......I mean, WHY wouldn't a major casino wish to offer its guests Internet access right in their hotel rooms??? Gosh....especially when the nearest convenience store is over three miles away and the nearest town of over 2,000 souls in population is forty miles away?? Can't figure THAT one out for the life of me.....








In the desert, in the dry.....





Went to New Mexico this past weekend....couple quick notes:





There are NO 24-hour gaz stations in Albuquerque (not even unmanned ones that just do credit cards)!! Nor any 24-hour rental car counters.....this in a 795,000 person Metropolitan area....emmm-kay.....six-dollar-a-gallon rental car gas blows big time! Although, I think eighteen buxx is a small price to pay as opposed to pumping gaz at 4am in the middle of the nastiest part of The Barrio......





Nice to have a layover in Denver...got to read a literate, well-written newspaper for once!!





Killer ribs in both places....Memphis and Albuquerque......felt the -itis, but no Mud Butt....

Was pissed of at having to wait on the "special search lane" at PDX which literally didn't fucking move (but I knew to expect this because I had bought my ticket mere hours earlier and, thus, I had seen that my ticket was labeled with the lovely "SSSS" symbol in the lower right-hand corner). It was then where, in the "normal" queues, I had seen a total stereotype of a gangly, red-blooded American boy about 18 or 19 years old smiling and waving goodbye to his mother, who had a very worried look on her face. I then looked at the "ARMY" baseball cap he was wearing and the "Army of One" T-Shirt he had on and put one and one together. Saw his mum bravely not crying but slightly trembling, as the lad cleared security and waved and smiled at her one final time.....maybe thee last time....and she slowly walked away, with another lady holding her hand............................

......I then immediately went straight to the Cafe and ordered a big mug of Shut The Fuck Up for myself.....and learned to put things in perspective........

Reposted without permission from The Buffalo Beast (www.buffalobeast.com)


And, the final scores:

Four flight legs in and out (PDX-MEM/MEM-PDX and PDX-ABQ/ABQ-PDX):

TSA GOT -

• One Bic lighter

TSA missed -

• One small tube of Carmex lip balm
• Two Bic lighters
• One Corkscrew

No, but seriously......for The Academy Awards:

Correct: 8

WRONG: 16

Entertainment Weekly hit 12 out of 24

Jesus, again......WHY do I bother?

-E-

Usually....

......I have nooooo Goddamm clue as to my Oscar Pool picks. Twenty-four guesses and a last-place finish and there ya go!! However, THIS year, since the ante's been upped from five to ten bucks, I thought I'd at least read The Oscar Issue of Entertainment Weekly magazine and pirate a few of their picks (like, maybe 10)......plus, I thought that I'd see AT LEAST ONE of the five best films BEFORE the Academy Awards presentation.....something I almost never do.....

.....so I picked one at random.....

(now, keep in mind, I have already officially SUBMITTED my picks by now)

....ended up picking The Departed.....

And I picked fucking BABEL to take it?????????????? Jesus....why didn't I see a couple movies BEFORE I make my picks.....

Awards show is starting........more tomorrow.....

-E-

Wow....I guess that you SHOULD believe what.....


....the stranger at the pub tells you.

As I had stated a couple weeks ago about how this guy I was talking to at a pub in Portlandia was telling me how that if you EVEN MENTION a proper brand name of an item, that your blog WILL be looked at by the Corporation that puts out said item.

After about two weeks......I had posted rather dull, boring, neutral posting about popular products on my faux-blog, Corporation X (it's some really dull shit, and again, it's just only meant to be a tester of this guy's theory....if you really want to look at it, be advised that apparently, this tracking program tracks everything that hits this site, so........) for about two weeks with NOTHING HIT!! I had tried posting neutral things about Budweiser, Snicker's candy bars, bunches of shit that mentioned product names.

Nothing......

No bite on the bait.....

THEN, I posted a dull, neutral blog on Income tax filing software.........

.................

.......lo-and-fucking-behold:

WHAT came up???


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Geeeze......I dunno whether to be afraid, pissed off, or just amused......

I is running away forra long-ass weekend out of town.....new posts next week (like, around the 20th or 21st).

-E-

FOR MATH AND LEGAL GEEKS ONLY!!!!!

Allright.....otherwise, this is some really boring shit, but I did the analysis, and I figured out exactly how the Oregon Lottery misleads pro football bettors!

One of my friends had wondered that if Sports Action placed the words on their outrageous odds 14-for-14 pick game when nobody won that week: "$18,065.02 rolls into next week's 14 pool"....then, how come after several weeks of NOBODY winning the 14-for-14 pick pool, how come the person that finally DID hit it, got, like, $18,065.02 and not at least $40,000?????

OK.....

He had gotten actual statistics from the Oregon State Lottery (public record....I know too much about that stuff.....) that gave the figures and he forwarded them to me.

Here we go:

NOTE - BE PATIENT AND READ SLOWLY..........


I did tally a few of the figures from the 14-pick pools that were supplied from The Oregon State Lottery Office.

From my calculations, I show 30% of sales to ONLY the 14-pick sales pool going into the 14-pick prize pool.

Thus, let's say that the lottery sold $7046.00 of sales of ONLY 14-pick bets (as they did in draw #904 for the games of 12/24/2006), OF THAT $7046.00 in 14-pick bets placed, they dropped only $2150.43 into the prize pool...or 30.519 blah blah blah percent of SALES into the 14-for-14 PRIZE pool!!!

WTF??? Wait......

The State Lottery says that 60% of sales are paid out as winnings on Sports Action!!!!??!!!

Ooooooooo-Kay! VEEEEERRRRY Clever!

Now, they are NOT stating, but implying, that 60% of ALL money wagered in each specific "division" (including guaranteed-pay 3-pick and 4-pick pools) gets paid out per division (as in, if say $4000 total statewide on a certain week gets bet on 14-for-14, then $2400 of that will get paid out in the 14-for-14 winners)!

Right?

Right??

Right......see below.....

Rules - DIVISION 090 - SPORTS ACTIONsm

177-090-0005 Definitions



(9) “Parimutuel” means a system of wagering in which the money allocated for prizes from the total amount of money

(12) “Prize category” means a division of the prize pool identified by a specific number of events selected by a player.

(13) “Prize pool” means the amount of money allocated from total sales for prizes.



177-090-0040 Prize Pool

(1) General: The prize pool consists of approximately sixty percent of the total amount of money wagered each week.

Sooooooooo, they get off Scot-Free by clever use of "Prize Category"!

So..........let us just pretend that.....

If $10,000 TOTAL Sports Action is bet one week statewide, and let's say that a TON of folks hit four-out-of-four, for, say, a total lottery four-out-of-four payout statewide of $8000, then EVEN IF $3000 was bet ONLY on the 14-pick, only like $1000 would roll into the 14-pick prize pool because they need the rest of the sales proceeds (the remaining $2000 bet on 14-for-14 pick bets) to payout the four-for-four winners!!

Kinda shady and very well misrepresented.....but they saved their asses by explaining "Prize categories" as "divisions" and clever use of the words ".......money allocated from total sales for prizes." Thus, use of the word "total sales" means that the term "Prize pool" covers ALL bets, not just the 14-out-of-14

IDEALLY, they SHOULD have stated "The TOTAL prize pool for all betting categories consists of approximately sixty percent of the total amount of money wagered each week for ALL prize categories."

But they did NOT state "The prize pool IN EACH PRIZE CATEGORY consists of approximately sixty percent of the total amount of money wagered for that specific prize category each week"

IF they did state that, then they woulda hadta pay the 12/25/2006 winner, like, $40,000!!

Thus, when they state in the "results" section that "$18,065.02 rolls into next week's 14 pool" THAT, THAT, THAT $18,065.02 IS THEE Prize. They are talking about the EXISTING prize pool!

They DON'T mean that $18,065.02 in 14-pick ticket SALES is ADDED to the 14-for-14 pot!



In English......what they did was that they used language that (un)clearly states that 60% of ALL sales taken in, regardless of whether it had originated from a four-for-four or a 14-for-14 bet, gets paid out and divided up throughout all categories, including the ones that are guaranteed to pay at a fixed amount (e.g. three-for three and four-for-four winners)!

So that $2 14-for-14 bet you made and lost on?? It is actually being used to pay out someone else's four-for-four pick winner INSTEAD of getting added into the 14-for-14 prize pool!!

THAT is bullshit....and that's the way they do it!

Whatever is left over AFTER paying the winners of the guaranteed flat-rate payout amounts of three-for-three and four-for-four THEN gets divvied up to the rolled-forward prize pools of the para-mutual categories (five-for-five and higher)!

THAT is the killer, as, statewide, 3-for-3 and 4-for-4 account for the vast majority of what Sports Action pays out. See, in that 12/25/2006 example (post a comment to me and I'll E-Mail you the official Oregon Lottery records on .pdf), they took in sales of 4-for-4 bets of $274,830 but yet they WERE OBLIGATED TO PAY OUT $384,170 in four-for-four winnings that week. If you look carefully at the charts, you'll also note that $973,318 was brought forward for the four-for-four pool.......as a sort of insurance policy in case mega-shitloads of people statewide hit the four-for-four that the Oregon Lottery is legally guaranteed to pay out at a specific flat rate (on four-for-four hits, your winnings are 10X the amount bet)!!!

Now the fives suck because they allotted 50% of five pick sales ($15,786) to the five-pick prize pool ($7,400.47) and they paid out $21.40 on a $2 five pick that particular week, or a total of $6,940 to ALL five-pick winners statewide! And the lottery brought the remaining $500 forward to pay out other pools next week!!!

You see?? It's a really good way for them to edge up their profits!

Thus, even by MY dodgy standards, they'd be un-sue-able as they DID INDEED cover their asses in the language they utilised........

Goddamm, these guys are good......

CUTE, huh?????

Assholes!!!

Seems AT BEST to be rather misleading.....at worst, an out-and-outright scam.......

I gotta run.....I should quit my job as a planner and become a bookie!!! :-)

Can figure out HOW EXACTLY The Oregon State Lottery rooks people and misleads them.........yet, I STILL can't do a simple Soduku puzzle......

-E-

Awwww Rubbish!!!!!


We were robbed!

I thought that we were gonna sweep the Grammys!! Instead........The Dixie Chicks?? Carrie Underwood?? WTF????

The Toth and I, with our hit song and video Multiplier No! should have taken several categories, including:

• Best new song
• Best new group
• Best music video
• Best editing and sound effects in a music video
• Best on location scene for filming a music video (Rococo)
• Best cameo by a bartender in a music video (Erin Daly)
• Best over-acting in a music video (everybody shown in the video, except the guy exhaling on the cigarette, who isn't enough of a drama queen to be in this video. Still, we promised him he'd be in it, because we owed him money)

I mean, come on!!! Not even a "Lifetime Achievement Award"!!!!!

The Guy Who Decides Who Gets The Grammys spoke to me after the show (on condition of anonymity, of course) and stated: "E, ya gotta understand, Multiplier No! doesn't resonate with the American music-listening public this year. I mean, it's chic right now to be against the war and the President and what have you, and frankly, I found something lacking in the lyrics of Multiplier No! that kept me wanting more.....it left me kind of empty......"

Couple other ideas in the pipe....we'll keep you posted......
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Jesus....talk about a dysfunctional firing! 14 wins and two losses?????????



Man.....The Bills should ace the Skull-Zombie and bring Marty back to Buffalo!












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And finally....on a happy note....

Why does this not surprise me?

Joey Harrington has always struck me as a class act and a stand-up individual (and a pretty decent quarterback)......but actually, there were a lot of other Oregonians tossing money into the pot before Joey stepped in.....

It's just the way people are here.......My People.......

-E-

Ya know....just when I thought.......



......that, after Kaiser got caught, that NOBODY could be that callous, we have a new addition to part I of Special Place in Hell!!



Ya know, how, just how the hell could you work at a hospital and do THIS to a human being???



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Headline of the day:

Snorkeler improves after being shot in Ore. river
2/10/2007, 12:16 p.m. PT

REEDSPORT, Ore. — The man accused of shooting a snorkeler in the head told investigators that he mistook the swimmer for a large, water-dwelling rodent, the authorities said.

William Roderick, 60, of Reedsport was arraigned Thursday in Douglas County Circuit Court on assault and other charges. The victim, John Chessman, 44, of Marcola, remained in serious condition at Oregon Health & Science University Hospital in Portland.

Roderick told detectives he saw what he believed to be a nutria swimming in the Smith River. He said he grabbed a rifle and shot at the rodent from a deck overlooking the water, sheriff's spokesman Dwes Hutson said.

After realizing that Chessman was not a nutria, Roderick helped pulled him from the water. Hutson said Chessman was conscious after the shooting.



Wow....now, HOW the fuck do you mistake a snorkeler for an animal??? THAT takes a special kind of idiocy! And why on God's green Earth would you shot an animal in the river?? Jesus......



Oooooo-Kay, now, ONCE AGAIN:



THIS is a snorkeler (in the Black Rock Desert of Northern Nevada, during Burning Man):

















Got that? Goooooood, good good. NOW, THIS is a Nutria (which kinda sounds like the name of a sports energy candy bar):






















Right, now, just one final time -


Nutria:




















Snorkeler:














Any questions? Non? Good......

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Was shocked and amused then I was riding my Land-Sled (my skooter) down the 217 freeway this afternoon, and as I was passing a Mini Cooper, saw that, quite literally, my skooter is almost as long as that goddamm car.....too weird!



-E-

Normally....I literally could give a shit less about these types of people.......



....but it's just reaaaallllly weird.



First the pissed off son!



Then, less than one year later, the money-grubbing hot bird!



TOOOOO creepy. He "died unexpectedly earlier this week [May, 2006] in the Dallas area from a brief and extremely aggressive infection"



She "had flu symptoms and a fever" for a couple of days and then drops dead?



And some "entertainment reporter"




















is claiming to be the father of her infant daughter, whilst her current beau and lawyer are disputing that claim, and the entertainment reporter is demanding immediate DNA testing?



WTF???????????????????????????



Wow......this is probably one of the most bizarre things I have seen in a while!



-E-

......and two degrees above zero in Western New York overnight.



Christ, how I miss the snow.



Don't get me wrong, I am not being sarcastic. Hell, we got four inches here a few weeks ago, and I was ecstatic! Portland panicked, everyone stayed home, news had 25-hour-a-day coverage of the "severe winter storm" and I was just enjoying myself!

The idea of sub-zero temperature doesn't even bother me! Hell, when I resided there, the weather never wore thin on me. In a bizarre sort of way, I rather enjoyed it, actually......





















Meteorologically speaking.....NOTHING of ANY note ever happens in PDX. The occasional earthquake and maybe a volcano or two not withstanding....but still, it's more fun to go and play outside in a blizzard then I'd imagine it would be in an ash storm (since we have two mountains susceptible to volcanic activity within 100 mils of Portland) or to have a walk on on of our many fine bridges and have the asphalt split in half below you during a 7.0 or higher.......











Still, though....there is something to be said about being able to ride my skooter all over the Metro area in early February....

-E-

Our grand finale.......





Super Sunday!!



Only eight games playable.......no more Sports Action forever! Fuckers! Kowtowing to the NCAA like that......



.....because the restaurant lobby fought the Oregon State Legislature hard to ban Sports Action based on the "economic impact" hosting first-and-second round NCAA tournaments!



Rubbish!



Academic reports have been written to prove and debunk this myth of a NCAA basketball tournament being an economic savior, as well as proving that economic impact estimates are commonly over-inflated by around 75% (see Indianapolis Final Four example, page 6 of this report)!!!



Arthur Fleisher, a sports economist at Metropolitan State College of Denver (an Alma Mater of this blog), said the actual economic impact of sporting events often falls short of expectations anyway.


"Most economists find that the impacts of things like the NCAA tournament and the Super Bowl are overestimated," he said. "The people who put out these estimates have an incentive to kind of inflate the numbers."


"The actual economic impact can be less than one-tenth of the estimates."



Um-Hummm........



Sports Action = $12 million in sales annually for the State of Oregon



"Estimated" economic impact of Portland hosting the first-and-second round matches of the 2009 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament = $10 million



Actual estimate of economic impact of Portland hosting first-and-second round matches in the Men's NCAA Basketball Tournament in 2009 based upon what leading sports economists state = $1 to 3 million, mostly for the private sector....not all of this estimate is going to stay in Oregon, either.



Most importantly?? These tournaments MAY come to Oregon ONCE EVERY FOUR YEARS at most!!!



Sports Action??? It generates $12 million or so EVERY year....



Um-hummm.....do the math! Wonder if our state legislature did.....



Jesus....makes me want to go into politics......



Anyways, for the last game......












Five hit out of eight, for 62.5% correct

















Three hit out of eight, for 37.5% correct


And now?? Bobo is out of work.....

Still find it weird that they aced that Snicker's candy bar advert. Why.....? I guess I would have to be a GLBTQ and feel threatened by it to understand......

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Was looking at a few old You Tube videos. Saw this one ONCE back in 1985 or so, and then never again on MTV. Sad, really....one of the better videos of the time. The facial expressions and body language from the band members aren't anything you'd actually expect to see in a video.....wow....musicians who actually appear to have the ability to act???

-E-