High Stakes Madness

The last hand on this video, in which Tom Dwan attempts to run a massive bluff against Phil Ivey, is one of the best single hands of poker I have ever seen--on both sides. Enjoy.

The Hockey Stick That Wasn't

A fascinating review of what appears to be a fascinating book. The book, The Hockey Stick Illusion, describes the efforts of one man to double-check the data used to create the (apparently) famous "hockey stick" graph--THE core piece of evidence for those that assert that mean temperature on Earth has risen sharply in the 20th century. Turns out, the graph, as well as most of the subsequent data sets taken from that graph, are mostly wrong. This is a book I would like to read. So, if any of you want to buy me anything, here's your chance.

And while you're at it, I'd also like a credenza. And lawn furniture. And some 1982 Bordeaux.

But I'll settle for the book. Read the review--at minimum because it contains this sentence: "I never thought I would find myself unable to put a book down because—sad, but true—I wanted to know what happened next in an r-squared calculation."

Who The Real Heroes Are

I spent almost a week in Greece about ten years ago and found the country fascinating. Hugely and inexorably antithetical to everything that I, an uptight Anglo Saxon, am and will ever be--but fascinating nonetheless. Maybe that's why I've been tracking the tension between Greece and the rest of Europe (particularly Germany) with special interest.

This article in the Times offers some excellent insight into why the Greek government is so financially imperiled. The opening is particularly noteworthy:

ATHENS — Vasia Veremi may be only 28, but as a hairdresser in Athens, she is keenly aware that, under a current law that treats her job as hazardous to her health, she has the right to retire with a full pension at age 50.".....“I use a hundred different chemicals every day — dyes, ammonia, you name it,” she said. “You think there’s no risk in that?”

“People should be able to retire at a decent age,” Ms. Veremi added. “We are not made to live 150 years.”