A Thread on Which to Carve the Letter “B”

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by Eric-a-Sketch

Two items to kick off the weekend’s flame wars of eternal destruction:

1. To my fellow NYC-based Obsidian Wingnuts – Should we gather somewhere festive on Election Day night?  I’m inclined to say yes, but that depends on the interest level.  I might even try to get the next day off from work so I can stay up to the wee hours.  My only prerequisite for locations: Must serve beer.  Food helps as well. 

What say ye in terms of the overall concept/suggestions for a destination? (non-NYC denizens feel free to work out your own damn plans!)

2. A few thoughts on poker.  Texas hold ’em is all the rage these days for good reason: it’s probably the best game for tournament style poker, and so it makes for better TV and comes in handy for smaller local tournaments.  However, Texas hold ’em’s close cousin, Omaha, is actually better for a standard poker night meet-up.  Omaha has a better pace for hand-to-hand combat (rather than tournament style marathons where Hold ’em’s virtues come through) and if you play it high/low, you get nice action on every hand.  

Speaking of which, I’ll be playing plenty of Omaha Hi/Lo tonight.  Wish me luck.  I’m hoping for enough Wheels to outfit a convoy of big rigs with trailers in tow.

56 thoughts on “A Thread on Which to Carve the Letter “B””

  1. Mrs. Ugh & I managed to score tix to the DCCC/DSCC election night party at the Hyatt Regency ballroom in DC. Anyone else going to be there?
    As for gambling, nothing beats blackjack at a Vegas casino with someone who knows how to count cards.

  2. I’m going to be a pollworker, which has the advantages of (a) counts in the karmic balance, (b) pays decent money in NJ ($200) (c) such a long, exhausting day — minimum 5am to 9pm — that I will have no time or energy to fret. By the time I get home to my well-earned beer I expect things to be moving along nicely.

  3. Ugh, I’m sill trying to figure out what to do for election night, along with some people from DC for Democracy I’ll be volunteering with in Virginia that day. We’re planning to come back into DC, but we’re agreed on not wanting to go to one of the mob scenes, so I don’t think hotel ballrooms are in my immediate future. I’m hoping for wifi, though. That’ll be essential for following the down-ticket races.

  4. I plan on driving to Bloomington, as IU will be a wayyyy better place to party than Purdue when the big day comes.
    In other news, I’m still flush with excitement from seeing Obama yesterday in Indy. I missed him when he was in IN for the primaries (but I did get to see Hillary, not bad but not as exciting either). He certainly lived up to all my expectations of hearing him in person. Only thing was that he sounded like he just had a tooth pulled or something. Weird.

  6. With any luck, my 11/3 flight back from Mexico will be canceled, and I’ll be forced to spend election day south of the border.
    [No worries; I’ve already voted.]

  7. I’d like to be not too far from the White House, though, so I could wander over and see what’s happening there. I remember that in 1992 — people dancing and singing “Ding, dong, the witch is dead!” and “Na na na na, hey hey, goodbye!” Probably it’ll be different in today’s security environment — definitely no one will get away with throwing a pumpkin over the fence this time.

  8. KCinDC – we were there for the party in ’06 too, and it was fairly mobbish. Tho’ I imagine it will be even more so this year. Still, it was a fun time.
    Can’t believe the election is still more than a week away, ugh er, oof!

  10. I remember that in 1992 — people dancing and singing “Ding, dong, the witch is dead!” and “Na na na na, hey hey, goodbye!”
    How about:
    Let me ask you one question
    Is your money that good
    Will it buy you forgiveness
    Do you think that it could
    I think you will find
    When your death takes its toll
    All the money you made
    Will never buy back your soul
    And I hope that you die
    And your death’ll come soon
    I will follow your casket
    In the pale afternoon
    And I’ll watch while you’re lowered
    Down to your deathbed
    And I’ll stand o’er your grave
    ‘Til I’m sure that you’re dead

  11. My plans to party hearty on Election Night came to an abrupt end when I rec’d notice to report to the Courthourse for jury duty on Nov 5th. At 8:00 am.
    (Mind you, I love jury duty – but the day after the election? Phooey.)

  12. Hard to get a crowd to sing along with that, Ugh, or this other Dylan:
    Oh the foes will rise
    With the sleep still in their eyes
    And they’ll jerk from their beds and think they’re dreamin’.
    But they’ll pinch themselves and squeal
    And know that it’s for real,
    The hour when the ship comes in.
    Then they’ll raise their hands,
    Sayin’ we’ll meet all your demands,
    But we’ll shout from the bow your days are numbered.
    And like Pharaoh’s tribe,
    They’ll be drownded in the tide,
    And like Goliath, they’ll be conquered.

  13. Whoa:
    John McCain’s Pennsylvania communications director told reporters in the state an incendiary version of the hoax story about the attack on a McCain volunteer well before the facts of the case were known or established — and even told reporters outright that the “B” carved into the victim’s cheek stood for “Barack,” according to multiple sources familiar with the discussions.
    …
    The McCain spokesperson’s claims — which came in the midst of extraordinary and heated conversations late yesterday between the McCain campaign, local TV stations, and the Obama camp, as the early version of the story rocketed around the political world — is significant because it reveals a McCain official pushing a version of the story that was far more explosive than the available or confirmed facts permitted at the time.
    The claims to KDKA from the McCain campaign were included in an early story that ran late yesterday on KDKA’s Web site. The paragraphs containing these assertions were quickly removed from the story after the Obama campaign privately complained that KDKA was letting the McCain campaign spin a racially-charged version of the story before the facts had been established, according to two sources familiar with the discussions.

  14. OK, seriously, it shouldn’t have been too hard to figure out that the lady was lying just looking at the picture — Occam’s Razor says that the reason for having something written backwards on someone’s face is that it was done in a mirror.

  15. I have to work the next day, but I know we’re going to be having some, uh, cham-PAG-ya on election night here in Chicago. Probably won’t go to the loop, but will be celebrating anyway. The cancer will be in remission for a change!

  17. Eric, I’m actually in Manhattan, and I’m down, provided wherever we are everyone else will be completely quiet and I can control the television and Internet access. And I can weep without feeling ashamed.
    Which I think is to say that I’ll be spending the evening at home with my own whisky. But you should organize a post-election party!

  18. I’m in NYC. I’m down. I was planning to hit up the DL21C bash, but if enough ObWi’s will gather, let’s do it.

  19. Having just read the rules on Omaha, I think I’ll suggest it for next poker night, but I doubt I’d be very good.
    The straight-forwardness of Texas works for me: seems like there is a lot more complexity in Omaha (especially with Hi/Lo).

  23. Occam’s Razor says that the reason for having something written backwards on someone’s face is that it was done in a mirror.
    Wouldn’t be the first time. Anyone, particularly from the NYC area, remember Morton Downey, Jr.?
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morton_Downey_Jr.#Controversies (I’d create the link, but I don’t have my HTML cheat-sheet on this computer, which I need cause I suck.)
    In 1989, as fascination with Downey’s TV show began to wane, he was involved in an incident in a San Francisco International Airport restroom in which he claimed to have been attacked by neo-Nazis who painted a swastika on his face and attempted to shave his head. Some inconsistencies in Downey’s account (e.g., the swastika was painted in reverse, suggesting that Downey had drawn it himself in a mirror),….

  24. As for gambling, nothing beats blackjack at a Vegas casino with someone who knows how to count cards.
    Y’know, I started having too much fun in Vegas. So I started rigorously applying basic strategy and counting cards (the simplified +/-). Now it’s work again! Hurray!
    I plan on driving to Bloomington, as IU will be a wayyyy better place to party than Purdue when the big day comes.
    As one who went to high school in West Lafayette and college in Bloomington, I approve this message.
    I won’t be in NYC for election day, but I will be drinking — whoever wins.

  26. As one who went to high school in West Lafayette and college in Bloomington, I approve this message.
    We’ll be certain to toast you Von. But if Obama doesn’t win, I’m sending you the tab. ^.^

  28. My suggestion for an eection evening theme song: Eyes on the Prize
    The one thing we did wrong was staying in the widerness to ong
    Keep your eyes on the prize and hod ono!
    The one thing we did right was when we began to FIGHT
    Keep your eyes on the prize, and hod on!
    I’ve been playing the Bruce Springsteen CD with that somg on it a ot atey.
    AS you a have probaby noticed, my keyboard wi no onger type the tweth etter of the aphabet.
    HE !

  29. But if Obama doesn’t win, I’m sending you the tab. ^.^
    Hey – not fair. If Obama does win, I also get the tab!

  30. This woman was clearly a plant by the Obama campaign. How dare anyone impinge the honor of the GOP or McCain. He was, after all, a POW.

  32. Y’know, I started having too much fun in Vegas. So I started rigorously applying basic strategy and counting cards (the simplified +/-). Now it’s work again! Hurray!
    Ah, but that’s why you go with someone who counts cards. He does all the work, you just follow his bets (tho, he was/is so good at it it really wasn’t work for him either, think of a recent book/movie on the subject).

  33. For anyone who hasn’t seen it, the new animated short “the vet who did not vet” is at least half a dozen kinds of awesome. I caught it via Andrew Sullivan; if the html works (a chancy thing commenting via phone), you should be able to see it at

  37. I’m finally home from the emergency room!
    And I’m on drugs! Woo-hoo!
    It only took 6+ hours of waiting!
    And I’m all casted up, and they crutched me!
    I learned a new phrase! “Avulsion fracture.” (Which I may or may not have; orthopedist will rule when I can get an appointment. That is, I have one, but they weren’t entirely sure it came with the fall, or was an old one.)
    “To my fellow NYC-based Obsidian Wingnuts – Should we gather somewhere festive on Election Day night?”
    I certainly hope everyone will keep in mind that when the clocks strikes 12:01 a.m. on November 5th, it’ll be my birthday, and I’ll be the nice round figure of 50!
    So feel free to drink to my health, or curse me and drink to my downfall and consternation, which I’m well on the way to, as your inclination goes.
    “Anyone, particularly from the NYC area, remember Morton Downey, Jr.?”
    Absolutely. Who could forget his suave charm?
    Wonkie, you might try using exclamation marks for “l”s in the meantime. Also, you should be able to pick out the letter with a virtual keyboard, or even easier, cutting and pasting, although all that is probably too much trouble to be worth bothering with.

  38. I’m not sure if this is the kind of stuff you congratulate someone over, so if this is inappropriate, oops.
    Congrats Gary! I mean, about knowing that its actually a fracture. And especially about the drugs. I can’t imagine you’ve been feeling to good without them.
    I’ll make sure to drink to your health on the 5th as well. ‘Cuz, you know, 50 is when I personally consider people ‘old.’

  39. Hi Gary! I wondered where you were. Hope the leg heals as quickly as my keyboard which, as you can see, suddenly has regained its L’s.

  40. “And especially about the drugs. I can’t imagine you’ve been feeling to good without them.”
    Yeah, well, if there’s one thing years of gout and toothaches and past kidney stones gets you used to, it’s longterm pain.
    But, yes, Vicodin Is Good.
    And thanks.
    “‘Cuz, you know, 50 is when I personally consider people ‘old.'”
    Me, too. 🙁
    For me, anyway. I swear I was just 19 a little while ago.
    It’s overly sobering to figure that in another ten years, I’ll be embarking on the second half of my life.
    Half-smile.
    Thanks also, wonkie.

  41. ‘Cuz, you know, 50 is when I personally consider people ‘old.’
    Not for long.
    It’s overly sobering to figure that in another ten years, I’ll be embarking on the second half of my life.
    Emerson on turning 70:
    “Seventy? It’s the end of youth!”
    Good to see you back, Gary!
    Thanks –

  42. hairshirthedonist,
    Events like this are not that uncommon. In Germany there have been numerous cases in recent years with people falsely claiming to have been attacked by skinheads*, often in connection with having swastikas cut into their skin. Since such attacks also occur in reality police and media are in a dilemma: report a potential fake and be the boy that cried wolf** or wait and make it potential “old news”. Unlike fake Holocaust survivors that try to make money (and thus give ammunition to Holocaust deniers), most of the perpetrators seem to be either mentally ill or looking for their 15 minutes of fame.
    *the most common neonazi variety ove here (left-leaning skinheads are quite unsuccessful in their attempts to break the mental connection of skinhead=neonazi)
    **by now the public is extremly suspicious and thus tends to underestimate or downplay the real danger from violent young nazis (many of which seem to have become nazis to justify their violent behaviour, not the other way around).

  45. So feel free to drink to my health, or curse me and drink to my downfall and consternation, which I’m well on the way to, as your inclination goes.
    Sounds like a shot and a beer then. It’s not an either/or, but a both.
    I kid, I kid.

  46. So the tally so far:
    pForm seems game for a post-election party, and Daniel R is down if we can get a crew.
    Come on rest of NYC-dom let’s motivate.

  48. Thanks all. If it turns out, once I can make an orthopedic apt., and get further evaluated by them, that the fracture seen in the x-ray (it’s my left foot, not the leg, one of the cuneiforms, I think, or maybe a metatarsal) is an old one, and all that I have left is a lot of extremely bruised and slightly torn muscle, than it will probably just be 2-3 weeks of healing, I gather.
    If, on the other hand, it is a fresh avulsion fracture (which is where the muscle has torn away a piece of the bone), rather than an old one they saw in the x-ray, which they thought possible, then, sigh, it will be somewhere on the order of 14-16 weeks, give or take, they tell me, although it’s all rather uncertain.
    Although the down side of the cast is that it makes it much harder to get around, the up side is the cast makes it much more comfortable and less painful, including to sit at my desk again. Although it still gets painful after a while.
    Too bad my bedroom is on the second floor. And I guess I’m going to get a more muscular right leg. And catch up on my book reading, which I’ve been doing the past week. (Now is the time to regret not having a laptop.)
    And on the upside of six hours of waiting around the hospital, I got through a few more hundred pages of Nixonland. 🙂

  49. Gary, welcome back and [also for wonkie], here’s to your L-th.
    Eric, I arrive in NYC on Wednesday, so can we continue the party for a few days? I’m hoping we will be able to justify that kind of celebration.

  51. Sounds good to me — name the place. I used to live in NYC but that was a long time ago, so I defer to others for choice of venue.

  53. So, remember those electrocutions by KBR in Iraq? Good news! They’ve been rebuked!

    […] At least 18 people have died from electrocution since the March 2003 invasion, including 10 from the Army, 5 from the Marine Corps, 1 from the Navy and 2 military contractors. The most recent electrocution occurred on Feb. 24. A chart listing each electrocution provides details but does not identify the victims by name.
    This is the second time that the Pentagon has raised its figures on electrocutions in Iraq. Last spring, the Defense Department said that 12 American personnel members had been electrocuted in the country, and then later told Congress that the accurate figure was 13.

    So that makes it all better.

  55. the most common neonazi variety ove here (left-leaning skinheads are quite unsuccessful in their attempts to break the mental connection of skinhead=neonazi)
    I remember hearing about SHARP a while back. It seems they’re active in England and the US, but I’m not sure about elsewhere.

  56. In the presence of the next President of the United States, Barack Obama, behind a podium and in front of a ‘Victory for Change’ sign, pinned to the city skyline in the midst of an overflowing Grant Park in downtown Chicago sounds like the place to be to me. You’re all invited!

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