Latest Addiction

So ever since I found out about jyte on Wednesday or so, I've been intrigued by the simplicity of the system for keeping up with who said what and who agreed with them. There's also a "cred" feature, whereby users can enhance the credibility of other users (currently manifested in the radius of a purple dot).

There are several reasons this system appeals to me:

1.) I can post ideas that are too short for a blog:


2.) I can get stupid and/or brilliant ideas off my mind and let other people worry about the implementation:


3.) I can quickly gauge the state of public opinion, albeit in a small, skewed sample:


4.) It's a great demonstration of the potential of OpenID for social networks, prediction markets, and all that. You can make claims about other users (for good or ill):


So basically, I've staked my claim on some of the dumbest things said on the web in the last few days. More than anyone else in fact; the only users with nearly as many claims as me are the ones who launched the site in the first place.

Stupid Canadian Banks

I guess you take certain risks in any gambling endeavor. Nowadays the problem tends to be that somebody twists the arm of your online payment processor, preventing you from taking your winnings and walking away.

What's lame is, even if I believe the legislation trying to curtail online gaming is intended to protect us, it's actually gonna cost me more to play now. Whereas online I can play entire tournaments for $5, now the minimum legal buy-in is usually $50 or more. Likewise, the smallest cash games are $2-$5 limit, which requires a bankroll out of my range to play profitably. Even with optimal strategy, you're gonna go broke without enough set aside to handle the swings, and I don't know how to build one without micro-stakes games, especially playing no limit.

I've got the skills to be a winning player, but they're buried under the miasma of confused strategies that've stuck from the dozen or so books I've read on the subject. It's the same problem I have with programming: I spend all my time trying to learn the latest trend or language, and never get around to writing any actual code. That, and the fact that every time I have a need for a program, sombeody has already written it.

I guess the world has enough poker players, programmers, and especially bloggers. I'll figure out something useful to do with myself one of these days.