"America's Money"

[megacorp-firee]

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Originally Posted by Art G I would think that Phoenix one day may suffer from the greatest natural disaster of all. Water shortage. I realize there is an aquaduct, but if there is a water shortage, I'd bet you can be sure supplies would be cut back.

I believe that LV is already there. Lake Mead was down about 30 or 40 feet last time I was there.

[megacorp-firee]

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Originally Posted by brewer12345 Chicago: Fires, flooding (its on the lake), boredom.

IMO you weaken your arguement when you try and load up on examples that don't make any sense.
Chicago fire threat is no bigger than any other big city. Mrs. O'leary's cow died a long time ago and the city is not longer predominately wooden houses since the Chicago fire.
Flooding is unlikely (unless the whole world floods) as the city is mostly above lake (and sea) level.
boredom ... you are already dead if you can't find something to do (even in the winter) in Chicago ... so it's a moot point

[Spanky]

Here is the picture of Lake Mead:

[megacorp-firee]

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Originally Posted by Patrick Actually, the biggest risk in Las Vegas, believe it or not, is flashflooding. They don't get much rain (about 11 inches per year), but sometimes they get a lot of that all at once. A lot of the old arroyos (gulleys) have been built over and the flowing water goes into populated areas. They've been working on a multi-million-dollar containment system for about 25 years and it's still not finished. I lived there for 40 years and never saw a tornado. We did have many "dust devils," which is a funnel of dust caused by ascending hot air (no puns, please) and look like a mini-tornado, but the most they do is throw your lawn chairs around. The second biggest risk is gambling away your 401K and then some.

I believe you have the order of the 2 risks reversed.

[DblDoc]

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Originally Posted by kombat I don't feel any fury or animosity, but at the risk of sounding insensitive, how could anybody possibly think it's a good idea to live in a city that is below sea level, right next to the ocean?

Are we talking about New Orleans or the vast areas of Holland ?

DD

[armor99]

Wow..... gone for just a day and the response to my small posting has been almost overwhelming! It appears that I have struck a serious chord in many here.... some towards the positive, and some more negative. After reading over your comments, and considering really carfully, I think I can boil it all down to the following axiom. "Do not allow your future to be governed by luck or chance."
To put this in more practical terms, consider a roulette wheel in Las Vegas. An equal number of red and black, plus a 0 and 00. That puts the advantage in the houses favor by around 8%. That might not seem like much, but over time, the house will always win out over the player because of it. Remove the 00 from the wheel, and the odds just got a bit better for you over time.
I think this is a very good analogy for what I was trying to point out in the beginning. My goal in life is to remove as many of those undesireable outcomes that I can. Choosing a profession that makes a decent salary was one way, saving 12% in my 401k was another way, making sure I have adequate insurance yet another way of helping to stack those odds in my favor. Undesireable outcomes can NEVER be eliminated, but should be a lifelong attempt to reduce them.
Or..... you can take the opposite approach in life. I have no power to change anything, my future is predetermined why bother to try, at any moment something horrible could happen to me, so I will pretend that tomorrow will never come, and never plan for anything.
Which one sounds like a life worth living? Which one has a higher likely hood of failure? Life is not always fair, or just, but there are an infinate number of things that we can choose to do, to help change the outcome to be in our favor

[Ronstar]

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Originally Posted by megacorp-firee IMO you weaken your arguement when you try and load up on examples that don't make any sense. Chicago fire threat is no bigger than any other big city. Mrs. O'leary's cow died a long time ago and the city is not longer predominately wooden houses since the Chicago fire. Flooding is unlikely (unless the whole world floods) as the city is mostly above lake (and sea) level. boredom ... you are already dead if you can't find something to do (even in the winter) in Chicago ... so it's a moot point

Well put!

[Spanky]

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Or..... you can take the opposite approach in life. I have no power to change anything,

Or we can take a middle-way approach that we have some (but not complete) power to change the course of our lives.

[haha]

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Originally Posted by Spanky Or we can take a middle-way approach that we have some (but not complete) power to change the course of our lives.

That would involve way too much common sense.

Ha

[Notmuchlonger]

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Originally Posted by Spanky Or we can take a middle-way approach that we have some (but not complete) power to change the course of our lives.

Why? its easier to just throw up your hands and go I have no control over what happens to me.

[Hamlet]

The gambler in me must correct you. The house edge in roulette is only 5.26%, not 8%.

This is irrelevant to your point, however.

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Originally Posted by armor99 To put this in more practical terms, consider a roulette wheel in Las Vegas. An equal number of red and black, plus a 0 and 00. That puts the advantage in the houses favor by around 8%. That might not seem like much, but over time, the house will always win out over the player because of it. Remove the 00 from the wheel, and the odds just got a bit better for you over time.

[Razor]

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Originally Posted by Hamlet The gambler in me must correct you. The house edge in roulette is only 5.26%, not 8%. This is irrelevant to your point, however.

♠House Edge of casino games compared by The Wizard of Odds

Blackjack is the ticket.

[megacorp-firee]

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Originally Posted by Razor ♠House Edge of casino games compared by The Wizard of Odds Blackjack is the ticket.

Poker
You against the other guy. The House takes a rake.

[Razor]

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Originally Posted by megacorp-firee Poker You against the other guy. The House takes a rake.

How much is the rake usually?
If you play long enough the house gets all the money on the table.

[growing_older]

I'm sorry for the people in the stories with their hard-luck problems. And I don't mean to be unsympathetic to their plight. I can see how devastating bad luck could truly wreak someone's finances. But for most all the stories featured here, the "bad luck" was no worse that things I've weathered myself or seen friends work through without the same degree of disaster. My house suffered damage in an earthquake and in a hurricane. I've lost (embarrassingly) huge amounts due to poorly diversified investments, then lost more in a painful divorce. I've lost my job without notice (several times) and once when the labor market was so bad I had to accept much lower paid employment after months out of work. Colleagues who weren't willing to accept lower paying jobs spent years out of work. Never through any of that was I in the kind of dire situation these stories seem to be. Surely this isn't even remotely representative of the current economy. They make it sound like everyone is having problems everywhere. Hardly any stories of people doing okay or coming through despite setbacks in their lives. Who expects to live without any setbacks through their adult life?

[Milton]

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Originally Posted by growing_older Who expects to live without any setbacks through their adult life?

Generation Y!

[megacorp-firee]

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Originally Posted by Razor How much is the rake usually? If you play long enough the house gets all the money on the table.

depends upon where, but usually a max of 3 or 4 dollars depending upon the place for limit games.
yes, I played for 8 hours one day with about very little table turnover and I remember counting the total money on the table and it was a lot less than when we began ... I estimated that it was about $100/hr

[Razor]

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Originally Posted by megacorp-firee depends upon where, but usually a max of 3 or 4 dollars depending upon the place for limit games. yes, I played for 8 hours one day with about very little table turnover and I remember counting the total money on the table and it was a lot less than when we began ... I estimated that it was about $100/hr

About 20 years ago I played 7 card stud in Vegas and it seemed like the dealer won every hand. I only played for a short time. It was too nerve racking for me. I like the popular Texas Holdem now, though.

[megacorp-firee]

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Originally Posted by Razor About 20 years ago I played 7 card stud in Vegas and it seemed like the dealer won every hand. I only played for a short time. It was too nerve racking for me. I like the popular Texas Holdem now, though.

? I woulda played with another dealer then ... no comment on the integrity of the dealer you were playing with

[Razor]

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Originally Posted by megacorp-firee ? I woulda played with another dealer then ... no comment on the integrity of the dealer you were playing with

Attempt at humor. The house was the dealer and took a piece of every pot. She was the only one winning.