Apr 24
2 things that drive me crazy (+1 I just thought of)
1) When people say good luck before playing against me in a poker game, really any poker game but particularly heads up. When people play me, their sole reason for playing me is to beat me (and rightfully so). To say good luck to me is totally disingenuous and I can’t stand it. I make a point of never saying it, I can’t really think of anything more phony. For those who think it is cordial, you are insane and flat out wrong. If anything it is insulting because you expect your opponent to believe it. This is sort of cliched since many have complained about this before me, but I feel I have to blog about it since still so many people doing it. I know now I will probably have many people say it as a “joke” as a result of this blog, but so be it. Anyone that does it should get over themselves and stop immediately
2) When people smoke outside while walking down a crowded street (particularly in New York). While I acknowledge it is totally legal to do so, I cannot imagine ever being so inconsiderate. At this point it is well established that smoking directly causes cancer. I believe that society should be free and if people wish to poison themselves they should 100% be permiited to do so, but they do not have the right to blow a cloud of smoke in my face (thereby giving me cancer) as I’m walking on a public sidewalk. I often run to get in front of people that are smoking since I can’t stand being behind them for longer than a block. Before I get all these comments about how this is inconsistent with my views that society should be free (and that anti-gambling laws are simply outrageous pandering to brainwashed religious zombies) it truly is not. I believe in the Lockean view of the law and the social contract. That is, that people should be free to do what they want so long as what they want does not infringe on the liberty of another. It is hard for me to imagine someone that wouldnt want to be free and have these rights. Gambling online does not hurt anyone except (arguably) those who choose to participate. They have the OPTION to do it. No one is giving me an option of getting poisoned when someone blows smoke in my face which I think is a bit outrageous. I would have no problem whatsoever with the government mandating certain zones outside where it is permissible to smoke (or not permissible to smoke, notably crowded walkways).
+1) While I’m not as passionate about this one as the others, it is happening in the coffee shop I’m in right now so I have to mention it. When people talk so loud at a restaurant that everyone around can hear their conversation. Now I understand people can do this without realizing it, I have probably been guilty of it a few times myself but to do it for over an hour is just ridiculous, additionally, you should be embarrassed that everyone keeps looking over at you but i suppose some people are immune to such embarrassment.
+2) One more thing that I’ve just been thinking about since my religulous blog and it is really making my blood boil. I have some friends who are religious who are among the smartest people i know. I trust their judgment and respect their logic on pretty much every other issue. But whenever the religious debate comes up they become unreasonable shadows of themselves. One friend in particular has a keen ability to distort the truth. I brought up how silly it was that a hospital wastes an elevator to have a “sabbath” elevator. My claim is that if Jewish people (and I technically am one) really feel that god doesn’t want them doing “work” on Saturday (in the form of pushing an elevator button, the sabbath elevator stops on every floor), then how on earth is god ok with inventing gizmos such as this to get around his edict. The whole thing is hypocritical. My friend does not follow these rituals himself, but for some reason he still felt a need to argue tooth and nail in favor of it being a reasonable custom. His tactic allowed me to realize the one that most religious people use when they do endeavor to rationally argue for their beliefs (rather than simply get offended like many do that you DARE question them). He totally changed the debate from my original claim about sabbath elevators to something else entirely. His argument was that there is value in spending one day a week with no electronics etc because there is a ton to be gained by spending time meeting and talking to your friends and neighbors with no intrusion. I found myself arguing him on this point where I think he had some excellent rational ground to stand on. However, this had nothing whatsoever to do with my original point. Kudos to him I suppose for changing the argument to something he had a chance to win but I will not be so easily tricked again by this tactic. The bottom line is that the core tenets of every religion are so irrational that they simply cannot be argued logically without employing tricks and distorting the truth. I welcome people to try in the comments.
April 25th, 2009 at 8:39 pm
While I see your point on the “good luck”, there are times for this. One I can think of is when I am playing private tournaments that are put on by members of a forum I belong to. I sincerely mean “good luck”. I don’t mean it as a knock or insult, just a friendly act before a game of good poker. I certainly don’t think it has any bearing on the outcome of the game. It just sounds a little better than “I hope I beat you and take all your money” :)
1 thing that drives me crazy:
Stevebets waiting a whole month between blogs!!!
April 26th, 2009 at 2:56 pm
“Good luck” is a meaningless pleasantry. In sports it might better be worded as, “may we have an injury free game that lets us both exhibit our abilities.” In poker, you could replace it with, “may you enjoy the good natured competition that is about to ensue.”
I agree on the smoking.
Having gone through an orthodox jewish schooling in middle school, I am deeply familiar with the intricacies of sabbath law. The silliness arises from people trying to adapt simple commandments like, “thou shalt not work on the sabbath” to modern life. If you believe in a legalistic god who cares that you follow commandments exactly (as opposed to a god who just cares that you have the general right idea), it’s hard to escape the silliness. Whatever broad lines and obvious interpretations of the commandment we try to make will constantly be challenged by ambiguous scenarios requiring further refinement of the interpretation.
April 27th, 2009 at 8:37 am
Steves, until now I never realized how smart you truly were. Anyone who disagrees with you on anything is clearly wrong and irrational, as you point out. Thank you for clearing this up for us. Tell me, where are your published papers, and what graduate school are you in? What job do you have? How are you improving our society in any way? Im sure the answers to all these questions will be mind-blowing.
April 27th, 2009 at 11:55 am
annon, given that it’s my blog I don’t feel a need to preface everything I say with a “in my humble opinion” clause. I welcome any rational dissent. Your dissent offers no ideas and nothing constructive and consists of empty criticism so I probably will not post similar comments by you in the future.
April 27th, 2009 at 4:33 pm
“I often run to get in front of people that are smoking”
I’d bet it’s more like a quick shuffle…let’s be honest here.
April 29th, 2009 at 5:59 pm
Agreed Brian Re: your last sentence. Steve people don’t use logic more often than not when a religious debate is attempted. Ari excluded here. After all Jesus or whoever your god is, always is called upon as the “answer” in the debate when positions cannot be rationalized. I’m not hanging from your scrotum, I just welcome intellectual debates, which you seem to be comfortable with. Good luck in school.
May 15th, 2009 at 12:54 am
i think when people say good luck before a match that it’s just their way of letting their opponent know that they’d like to keep things friendly. heads up matches can often get heated and i don’t think this is a bad way to start things off on a more mellow note.
the english language is full of phrases that are spoken not to convey what the words literally mean, but to reflect something more underlying.
with that said, i think you may be overreacting
May 15th, 2009 at 10:40 pm
I love it when someone wishes me good luck before the match, then at 50/100 when my KJ beats their AJ AIPF they throw a chatbox hissy fit. I’m always like, “didn’t you wish me good luck before the match?” always found that kinda funny
May 21st, 2009 at 1:53 pm
I totally agree with you about the whole “good luck” thing. I catch myself doing it every now and then. I’ll have to make an effort not do it, although I’ve been conditioned by society to be “nice” by saying something to make others feel good.
Regarding your rant ou the sabbath elevators… I think I can see your point. I am not Jewish so I don’t follow the Jewish laws, but other religions have silly rules too. That said, I think there’s a major difference between following a set of rules thinking that doing so will make your better, holier, or earn God’s, Allah’s, [fill in the bank] favor and doing so because you are thankful for what you already have through grace. It’s kind of like what Bono said: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2230853041.
May 23rd, 2009 at 2:00 pm
wow I can’t believe you would advertise this crappy blog on your avatar, like anyone gives a crap about what you’ve just wrote.
May 23rd, 2009 at 3:04 pm
clearly you care enough to come and read
June 1st, 2009 at 4:19 pm
When will you talk about the undeniable fact that poker has become 98% luck? When will you blog as Daniel Negranu has before about as you get older you seem to catch less cards. He mentions making fun of all the old tight asses with big pairs when he hit every suited connector for the first few years of his carear. How he wondered how they ever won! lmao. Obv you have been Watching this seasons HSP! While Durrrr is a marvelous talent he does seem to hit a lot of hands at the right times. Varience? Skill? Karma? One last thing, In the hand Barry held AA and Eastgate hat ethe 2 and Durrr had the q 10 in your opinion who played the hand the worst, the second worst and the best and please define it if you can in that order!
June 6th, 2009 at 7:48 pm
The “goodluck” thing, totatly with you on that.
The second hand smoke thing. Not so much.
I have been living in Asia for the past 4 years, and anybody, anywhere smokes when and where they please…
Hospitals, Elevators, Elementary Schools…There is a far more grave human addiction that is going to present
infinitely more helath problems. Pollution. I mean really. Look at L.A. WTF?..I have to smoke outside
But I never even saw a single star the whole time I lived there. China- The pollutition is settles on trees,
and you can’t see more than a quarter mile cus of the smog. So, people??? Come on. My faher in law is
75 and he has been smoking 2 packs a day since he was a young man. He looks about 45 and hasn’t a single health condition.
June 8th, 2009 at 9:31 pm
Yea, way to be results oriented…
I know a guy who was shot 3 times in the chest and is now healthy as a horse, obviously we should allow people to shoot each other too…
June 9th, 2009 at 3:02 am
On the religious issue, you seem to be interested in a bit of open-minded debate. I’d like to ask a few questions so I can zero in on something concrete to actually debate.
Do you believe in a specific theory or model for the origin or existence of the universe (or lack of origin in some cases)? (big bang, steady state, etc.) Was there always some matter/energy/dimensionality or did that “something” magically appear from “nothing” at a specific point?
Do you have a specific reason why people should live if they are just going to die anyway? (Other than life is better than non-life).
Do you believe your life has more or less meaning/importance/relevance if it is shorter or longer or is any life duration equivalent to any other life duration?
Do you believe in any kind of ethics, morality, or relative meaning in terms of how you live your life? (is a life of murder and rape intrinsically better than one of giving and helping for example). Do you support Rand’s virtue of selfishness?
How do you think mankind evolved consciousness (self-awareness) and do you believe in evolution? Do you think mankind is still evolving and in some period of time will eventually become as different to us now as we are currently to Neanderthals?
At a very microscopic level (let’s say atomic), if we view everything as just a bunch of particles/atoms moving around in space-time according to some rules or model (or something similar), what are your views on why life has come to exist rather than just non-life? Or are non-life and life equivalent and everything is just a bunch of particles zipping around in various configurations per various physics rules/models and so on?
Which brings us to the last question and free will. Do you believe you have free will or that there is such a thing? Again, at the atomic level, are we all just made up of particles interacting per rules going through a deterministic series of transitions? When you make a choice is it really a choice or is it just the next series of transitions in a deterministic universe? If you do believe in free will, what is physically happening to enable it?