| I didn't realize someone had imploded the Golden Nugget |
[Dec. 21st, 2009|12:26 am] |
Someone on vpFREE mentioned driving by the El Cortez recently and seeing a sign "VOTED THE BEST DOWNTOWN HOTEL FOR 2009." This is according to the LVRJ's Best of Las Vegas 2009 edition.
Reader pick: Golden Nugget
Staff pick: El Cortez
Yeah, I'll have some of whatever they're smoking at the LVRJ.
"This pick didn't seem possible a couple of years ago, [...]" Um, it still doesn't seem possible now. I know the E has recently undergone a renovation (friends of mine stayed there recently and reported it being decent) but NFW does it beat out the GN. |
|
|
| Craig's favourite Christmas songs |
[Dec. 21st, 2009|01:22 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  bouncy | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | All Christmas music, all the time | ] |
Christmas is four days away and I am having a good time finding all my favourite Christmas songs on YouTube at 1 a.m. I strove to find the best recordings on YouTube, not necessarily the best visuals that went along with them (but it was nice to find when they both fit). Click on the links and take a listen to what makes me feel the most festive:
"The Twelve Days of Christmas" by Ray Conniff and the Ray Conniff Singers:
Listen for the special and unexpected vocals during the eighth-day countdown.
"Wexford Carol" by Celtic Woman:
Méav Ní Mhaolchatha is the lead vocalist. The backing choir is haunting; wait for the breathy line beginning with "As..." at 2:43.
"Joulukirkkoon" by Sari and Mari Kaasinen:
The title translates to "Going to Church on Christmas".
"Jingle Bells" by Ella Fitzgerald:
How can you stay still while listening to this song? Wait till you get to the last line! "Replay" always.
"With Bells On" by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton:
Play one for us! |
|
|
| i'll take it, but ... |
[Dec. 20th, 2009|08:00 pm] |
... it was a slopfest in Mountain View today, where i drew enough good tiles to finish 2nd despite doing most everything in my power to fuck it all up. 4-2 +49, but i was unfocused, not making good decisions, going 0-3 on the challenges, and i flat out giftwrapped a game for Jerry, not thinking through the situation and giving him a place to play (C)ASEFiED for 101 and out to lose by 5! dumbass. that loss put me in a situation in the KOTH where, instead of being in 1st, i was 2nd and a game behind Jerry and had to beat him by 223. yeah, good luck with that ... actually, when i opened with RAWhIDE(S) and then played A(E)ROBIcS a turn later, it was looking possible, but Jerry clamped down on the D and i only wound up winning 417:388.
i did have a nice comeback vs. Ed to win 436:426 after i'd made a complete mess at the beginning, then i beat Jeff like i seemingly always do, and i also won a tight game with Rebecca Slivka where drawing both blanks midgame on one pick turned it in my favor. xp -> luckbox. all in all, i played like an idiot today, but i was drawing everything – 10 blanks in 6 games – so i got away with it. you dont always win because of skill. sometimes you win in spite of yourself.
it was fun and i was in a good mood today, i took the chokejob vs. Jerry and the obligatory loss to Karris in stride. it was OK. and 2nd is nice and the new rating of 1758 is nice too. but that tourney should have been won today, and i didnt do the things necessary to win it, so i dont deserve it.
but i do deserve tacos. and ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) sophonax was 2nd in Div. 2, so it looks like we have some taco money here in our pockets. |
|
|
| 50 Racks |
[Dec. 20th, 2009|06:23 pm] |
Quackle-approved moves: 21/50
Moves within 0.5: 28/50
Total Equity Loss (500 iteration 2-ply sims): 62.5
Average Equity Loss: 1.25 per turn
Rack that might be worth discussing: IIINOVY. My move was to exchange all but IN. Quackle recommends IVY. I understand that IVY is probably going to leave me a play next turn, but feel like leaving IINO is asking for trouble.
No word knowledge issues for me. I think most of my "mistakes" fall into one of three types here: (1) not seeing the word in the rack and acting too quickly, (2) over/undervaluing a certain leave, and (3) now now, Quackle. I wonder how this might go if I had the tiles physically in front of me, rather than having the racks generated. It might also be interesting to see the next rack after the opening and subsequent draw.
( Actual sexy table... ) |
|
|
| Quackling for a change |
[Dec. 20th, 2009|06:12 pm] |
Here's an annotation of a game I played with olaugh -- thought I'd post it because there were several positions where Quackle and I butted heads a little bit, and I was wondering what people thought. Feel free to post any comments if you've got 'em!
Play the game
Positions that could merit some discussion:
-Opening rack (BEE vs. BELIE)
-Turn 3 (EYELINER extension vs. more defensive plays)
-Turn 9 (is DIVERT too aggressive? is there a better way to go?)
-Turn 11 (what does NAE accomplish? does anything set up a bingo better?)
-The last couple of pre-endgame moves (is there a long-shot bingo possibility that I'm not seeing?)
Who's got thoughts? |
|
|
| (no subject) |
[Dec. 20th, 2009|03:06 pm] |
I'm not sure about the quality on this since I'm at work and there is no sound, but I'm posting a clip from Girl, Interrupted in memory of Brittany Murphy. This one hit me hard. I know it's too soon, but I'm sure she's well on her way to that "eat in chicken" in the sky. RIP Brittany.
It's highly unlikely that I'll be able to persuade Mike into watching Girl, Interrupted with me tonight, but if I gave him the option between that or Riding In Cars With Boys, it would be a pretty easy decision, I bet. Or maybe not.
I got a commendation on my second call of the day. She actually ASKED to talk to my supervisor. Out of the year I've been here, I've never gotten that! At least not in such a positive light. Normally it's a pissy person who starts screaming that asks for a supervisor, so to Ms. McCann in New York, let me tell you that you are something fantastic and I want to thank you for recognizing me. I'm glad I was able to do good by you today. <3
On other fronts, one of the TMs took a sup call earlier, which is nothing out of the ordinary. You could hear her just getting more and more forceful but not necessarily louder, and when she lets out the "EXCUSE me? I have given you the opportunity to speak and I would appreciate it if you would listen to me" all eyes turn to her direction.
When she wraps up the call - finally - announcing that she'll be disconnecting because of hostility from the caller who will not stop screaming, Chantelle (one of the annoying girls at work, with a high-pitched whiny voice who's always snapping her gum) starts applauding, and the next thing I know, there's a whole passel of people who are just sitting there clapping.
Star (the TM) gets up and says, "Good to know I live up to my name."
Classic.
Back to work. Only two hours (and counting!) left. I have a three day weekend coming up (12/24, 12/25 AND 12/26 off!!!) and karaoke with our crew, plus my friend Stephanie from work on Wednesday night to look forward to. It should be a good week. Here's hoping. |
|
|
| NPR piece on the tie, attempt 2 |
[Dec. 20th, 2009|04:01 pm] |
Just got word from the producer of the story on the 3-way tie and resulting album that the piece airs on tonight's (12/20) edition of Weekend All Things Considered towards the end of the show. Unless, of course, there's breaking news of some sort. I'll post a link here when it's available.
Edited: Yes, it did air. Here's a link! |
|
|
| 50 Ways to Tell You I Suck |
[Dec. 20th, 2009|03:40 pm] |
So I did the 50 opening racks. I'm not going to list all of them here because it would take more of my time than it would be worth to you, and there is some football to watch.
Suffice to say I suck. Over 200 points in equity loss (according to the valuation column) if I'm computing this right. I did nail 26 of the 50, but three phoneys will get you every time against the Duck. I also missed a relatively easy bingo (EEFILRT).
Here are a few of the more interesting racks. I'll revisit the comments and post the correct answers later in the day.
EHKNOST
ADJNSXY
AAHJRST
CEIILLW
DDEILRX
EIINNOR |
|
|
| Scrabble prizes redux |
[Dec. 20th, 2009|11:09 am] |
Since I can't help myself, and there are some things I wanted to respond to/echo/comment on, I'm collecting them all in a new entry. Previous entry here.
There are also some general rambling philosophical thoughts about the state of the game at the bottom.
( cut for length ) |
|
|
| Prize distribution at Scrabble tournaments |
[Dec. 19th, 2009|10:01 pm] |
I'm probably going to regret opening this can of worms, because people tend to feel strongly about this issue, which mostly makes for people arguing past each other about points the other person didn't make, but after reading sophonax's recent post on the subject, here are my thoughts:
Prize money at tournaments should never be moved from one division into another.
Note, I am making a very specific assertion here. If there are any additional funds ADDED to the general prize pool by an outside sponsor, for example, I have zero problem allocating all such additional monies solely to the top division.
Say you have two divisions of equal size, $50 to enter, and everyone mails in their registration forms and checks to the director, and since this is a hypothetical, all the entries are mailed in on time too! Then when tournament weekend rolls around, everyone shows up, and the director says "OK, before we all start playing, everyone in D2 take another $50 out of your wallets and hand it to a D1 player."
Is this ok? However you want to define ok. Because this is exactly what happens when you move money from D2 into D1. It doesn't matter whether the D1 players use this extra $50 to turn around and convert their previously $50 tournament into a $100 tournament, or go out and blow it on (very cheap) hookers and coke, either way, $50 that the D1 player did not previously have has made its way into his or her hands out of the pockets of a D2 player.
The issue here isn't whether people know about it in advance on the tournament flyer or whether they willingly fork over the extra $50, it's whether this is "right." People willingly go along with things that screw themselves over all the time, often because they don't realize they're getting screwed over, or maybe because they don't care.
In fact, you can often find me in the "don't care" category. Despite my feeling that moving prize money from one division to another is not equitable, I'm willing to accept the equity loss in the name of recreation and entertainment.
An oft-cited reason for moving money is that D1 players are better and deserve to be rewarded for their hard work and long hours of studying. (1) What about people who have a natural talent for the game and don't study as much? (2) If you wanted me to employ you to become better at Scrabble, you should have secured a contract from me first.
As many of you know, I play rec league ice hockey, which is often divided into A/B/C divisions by ability. I've never heard of C league players paying higher league fees to subsidize the fees for A players because the A players are better/worked harder at their game/are more gifted/were born in Canada.
Various other analogies could be (re-)made and ignored, but I've already typed a ridiculous amount for not wanting to get drawn into this conversation again :-) In fact, I'm not going to reply to any replies. I've thought about this a lot, read a lot of opposing opinions and reasons, and don't find any of them persuasive (likewise for people on the other side I'm sure). Talk amongst yourselves. |
|
|
| The U.S. Civil Rights Movement as an Insurgency |
[Dec. 19th, 2009|09:22 pm] |
via Schneier: Why the Civil Rights Movement Was an Insurgency, and Why It Matters
Most Americans fail to appreciate that the Civil Rights movement was about the overthrow of an entrenched political order in each of the Southern states [...] That the Civil Rights movement employed nonviolent tactics should fool us no more than it did the segregationists, who correctly saw themselves as being at war. Significant change was never going to occur within the political system: it had to be forced. [...]
As to why it matters: a major reason we were slow to grasp the emergence and extent of the insurgency in Iraq is that it didn't -- and doesn't -- look like a classic insurgency. In fact, the official Department of Defense definition of insurgency still reflects a Vietnam era understanding of the term. Looking at the Civil Rights movement as an insurgency is useful because it assists in thinking more comprehensively about the phenomenon of insurgency and assists in a more complete -- and therefore more useful -- definition of the term. |
|
|
tired
*shrug*
okay
sleepy