Who the fuck is Lauren Keiser?

Lauren Keiser is an asshole and president of the Music Publishers Association. In a recent interview he stated that the goal of the MPA in 2006 was to start targeting music web sites that publish lyrics and instruct people how to play their favorite tunes.

But he was not content to obtain injunctions, request copyrighted material be removed, or encourage the recording industry to provide a legal alternative. No, this prick stated that the music fans that operate such sites should be THROWN IN JAIL. America already has more people in jail per capita than any free country in the world. People that publish little fan sites are not hurting the music industry, if anything they are helping it by getting people more into bands and thus more likely to pay to see them perform or buy their music.

People like this disgust me. I hope he gets thrown in jail.

Omaha H/L

I've been playing Omaha H/L on TestPokerStars.com. TPS is a new site owned by PokerStars.com which is a beta test bed for all the new stuff they are likely to offer on their main site in the future. It's play money only, but it can be fun when you are not in the mood to gamble.

Although I think it is boring to describe hands to other people (or at least I find it boring to listen) here is the hand I just played:

I flopped a boat, threes full of sixes. On the turn I made sixes full of threes. On the river I made quad threes. I got beat by quad sixes. Thankfully I had a big chip lead and the other player was short stacked so I didn't get hurt as badly as I could have. I've just never seen quads over quads before, it was crazy.

$100m Whine

In America they like to do things big. Almost every day I see some form of competition offering millions of dollars in prizes. Americans like money like they like their fast food: Too much is never enough.

However, one of things that can be lacking in America some times is consumer protection that more liberal countries consider important. One such area that annoys me are big cash prizes offered by various companies as promotions, and of course the lottery.

My last post talked about $100,000,000 being offered by Noble Poker. Now that sounds like a lot of money, and it is of course. However here is the reality:

If you take the standard prize they pay $1m per year for 49 years, and then on year 50 you get $50m (or a family member if you are dead). Now that's still a nice prize, although the odds of winning it are probably as bad as the lottery because you have to make a final table and then get dealt a Royal Flush in spades using your two hole cards in the first 250 hands dealt.

But let's say you were lucky enough to win your likely pay out is $600,000 per year after tax. As nice as that is it is hardly the $100,000,000 that gets your attention. The other option they offer you is to take $25,000,000 as a lump sum which would probably be about $14,000,000 after tax. Again, a very nice prize, but still not $100m.

I just think that America needs to change the law so that prizes have to be advertised as they truly are. When McDonald's does their $1m prize promotions, they pay out over 25 years which means you could barely give up working.

I also think that prizes should not be taxed, especially winnings from a poker tournament. The government can make plenty of taxes taxing lottery ticket sales without taking half of people's winnings from them.

All that said I would not mind winning any of the above prizes.

Poker Big Enough Yet?

As if proof were needed that the poker bubble has yet to burst, Noble Poker, a relatively small online poker site is hosting a $100,000,000 competition for free! Yes to clarify that is the correct number of zeros, we are talking $100 million dollars.

The deal is you can enter a free roll tournament and if you make it to the final table you will be flown to a secret location to see who wins. The winner gets part of a half million dollar prize pool. If a royal flush of spades is dealt the person holding those cards walks away with the $100m. This is not BS either, so they say, the prize is insured by a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway.

Granted it is pretty unlikely to happen, but there are some other big prizes on offer too including $1m for any other royal flush and several hundred thousand for quads. It would certainly be a fun final table to be on.

Poker Rant

A recent news article prompted me to write this rant.

When is the US government going to live up to its mandate of doing what the people want? It is quite clear from the sheer number of people who play poker both in real life and online, and those that watch the sport on TV that Americans want the freedom to play poker online.

Right now billions of dollars are being invested into this business, but because of the stubborn and incompetent Republican government, nothing is being done to allow citizens to play the game they love.

Americans currently have to break the law to play their favorite game online, while other countries have taken the intelligent step of legalizing, regulating, and taxing the industry. What happened to the freedom?

Right now I could fly to Vegas and play in a legal poker game that could potentially cost me hundreds of thousands of dollars an hour if I play incorrectly. Here in Tennessee I could actually be arrested for playing online, or playing a few friends for $10 in a bar. None of this makes any sense at all. Most of the laws the government are hiding behind were written before the invention of the Internet.

Poker is an American tradition, a wonderful game of skill, and yet Americans are being treated like second class citizens by their own government. If this is a democracy give the people what they want: The right to play poker in the privacy of their own homes.

Aww cute cats

In my quest to be as original as ever I thought I would upload a picture of my cats. I can't imagine that anyone has ever put a picture of their pets on a blog or homepage. So I guess it's another original right here at ZCT 168!

I did not make them pose for this, they were just sharing a loving hug outside my study when I went to bed last night. Awwwwww.

The one on top is Figment, the smaller yet fatter one is Sphinx. The picture was taken with my Motorola Razr, hence the low quality. What more can I say.

The Tag She Is Great

The new Tag arrived at 2:26pm, the day after I ordered it at 9:30am. I am too lazy to do the math, but it arrived quickly and was everything I hoped it would be. I am amazed at the efficiency and quality of service from the company I purchased it from. For those interested I bought it on AuthenticWatches.com. They have a great customer service record with reputable online retailers like eBay and Amazon.com. I have to say, if you are in the market for a classy watch, save yourself 20-40% and don't buy it from some smug jewelers.

Jessica Simpson Screwed

Naive Jessica Simpson whose father probably drilled into her the fallacy that marriage was a life long magical journey is set to be screwed over in the divorce with Nick Lachey. [News Source].

When they got married Nick was in very good financial shape and drew up a prenuptial agreement for her to sign. She refused. During their three years of marriage her star has been on the up and up and as a result she is now significantly more wealthy than Nick. But under California law she will now have to split her additional wealth 50/50 unless they agree to settle in a different way.

The moral of the story: Always get a prenup, don’t listen to your father when he is trying to bang you, stop trying to live in a fairy tale where marriage is some kind of magical gift from God.

Jessica is both naive and ignorant which is in no small part thanks to her creepy father. As far as he is concerned no one, not even a relatively famous multi-millionaire singer, is good enough for her. Unless she realizes a few home truths about her father she is doomed to a life of short term and ultimately failed relationships, sabotaged by her seemingly incestuous father.