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04-04-2008, 09:06 PM
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#141
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 1,304
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Quote:
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.
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I believe that LV is already there. Lake Mead was down about 30 or 40 feet last time I was there.
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04-04-2008, 09:15 PM
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#142
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 1,304
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Quote:
Originally Posted by brewer12345
Chicago: Fires, flooding (its on the lake), boredom.
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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
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Life is GREAT!
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04-04-2008, 09:18 PM
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#143
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Minneapolis
Posts: 4,395
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Here is the picture of Lake Mead:
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May we live in peace and harmony and be free from all human sufferings.
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04-04-2008, 09:26 PM
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#144
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 1,304
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Quote:
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. 
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I believe you have the order of the 2 risks reversed.
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Life is GREAT!
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04-04-2008, 09:44 PM
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#145
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 1,224
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Quote:
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?
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Are we talking about New Orleans or the vast areas of Holland  ?
DD
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04-04-2008, 11:11 PM
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#146
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 680
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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
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04-05-2008, 06:25 AM
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#147
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Northern Illinois
Posts: 12,764
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Quote:
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 
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Well put!
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04-05-2008, 12:17 PM
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#148
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Minneapolis
Posts: 4,395
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Quote:
Or..... you can take the opposite approach in life. I have no power to change anything,
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Or we can take a middle-way approach that we have some (but not complete) power to change the course of our lives.
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May we live in peace and harmony and be free from all human sufferings.
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04-05-2008, 01:00 PM
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#149
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Hooverville
Posts: 22,983
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Quote:
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.
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That would involve way too much common sense.
Ha
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"As a general rule, the more dangerous or inappropriate a conversation, the more interesting it is."-Scott Adams
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04-05-2008, 01:04 PM
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#150
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 4,764
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Quote:
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.
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Why? its easier to just throw up your hands and go I have no control over what happens to me.
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04-05-2008, 01:12 PM
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#151
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 1,517
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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.
Quote:
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.
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04-06-2008, 01:36 AM
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#153
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 1,304
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Razor
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Poker 
You against the other guy. The House takes a rake.
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Life is GREAT!
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04-06-2008, 08:50 AM
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#154
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Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 488
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Quote:
Originally Posted by megacorp-firee
Poker 
You against the other guy. The House takes a rake.
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How much is the rake usually?
If you play long enough the house gets all the money on the table.
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04-06-2008, 11:34 AM
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#155
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 2,657
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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?
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04-06-2008, 01:11 PM
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#156
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 2,353
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Quote:
Originally Posted by growing_older
Who expects to live without any setbacks through their adult life?
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Generation Y!
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"To know what you prefer, instead of humbly saying Amen to what the world tells you you ought to prefer, is to have kept your soul alive". Robert Louis Stevenson, An Inland Voyage (1878)
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04-08-2008, 02:22 PM
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#157
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 1,304
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Razor
How much is the rake usually?
If you play long enough the house gets all the money on the table.
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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
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Life is GREAT!
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04-08-2008, 02:45 PM
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#158
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Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 488
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Quote:
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
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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.
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04-09-2008, 10:23 PM
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#159
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 1,304
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__________________
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04-10-2008, 07:37 AM
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#160
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Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 488
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Quote:
Attempt at humor. The house was the dealer and took a piece of every pot.  She was the only one winning.
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