Archive for May, 2007

Happy Memorial Day

May 28, 2007

I know this is coming a bit late, but I just wanted to wish everyone a happy Memorial Day.  If you know someone who has served or lost someone serving our country, be sure to thank them personally.  If you don’t know someone like that, be sure you take a minute to reflect on the fact that freedom isn’t free, and be thankful for those who have made the ultimate sacrifice to ensure we are able to live the way we do in this country.  Too many people take it for granted, especially those in my generation.

Thanks.

New pics up

May 23, 2007

In the unlikely even that anyone is interested, I have a few pics up on Flickr from our recent Caribbean cruise.

DSC_3474

At one point Kelly thought about jumping off the back of the ship, but I pulled me a Kevin Spacey and talked her down

People are suckers

May 17, 2007

The Yankees, who have a losing record by the way, are currently paying 3-1 on Sportsbook.com to win the AL pennant.  Do you have any idea how unbelievably stupid that is?  Currently the Red Sox are the favorite at 7-4 (which makes sense), but there are at least 5 other teams in the AL that have a better shot at winning the AL than the Yanks (the Indians, Angels, Tigers, White Sox, and Twins come to mind).  So you may be asking yourself, why is this line so out of whack?

The answer is simple: delusional Yankee fans keeping placing bets on them to win it.  You see, this is how bookmakers work.  They want to generate action on both sides of a bet.  If the money is leaning heavily towards one side, they adjust their lines to create action on the other side.  Ideally, they have 50% of the wagers on each side of the bet and make profits by charging juice.

Therefore, if fewer people were betting on the Yankees right now, their odds would probably be a more realistic 10-1 or so.  But as long as people keep betting on the Yankees, the bookies will keep their odds low and jack up those of other teams (the Indians, for example, are at 11-2).  Betting is all about finding value for a given risk (just like investing in stocks).  It’s like trying to find a good Sharpe ratio.  In this case, the Indians make a more compelling investment than the Yankees.

The media can be misleading when it calls one team a “favorite” to win something based on Vegas odds.  Vegas odds have little to do about who the oddsmakers think will win a game.  It’s more about making them money.

If you asked someone who really knew baseball, say, Peter Gammons, to rank the teams in the AL according to their likelihood of winning the pennant this year, I guarantee you he would not choose the Yankees second, at least given their performance up to this point in the season.

Oh happy day…

May 17, 2007

It’s going to be light posting for the next couple weeks as I gear up for the CFA exam, everyone, but I had to post this.  If you watched the 2006 Fiesta Bowl between Notre Dame and Ohio State, you’ll remember that the most oft talked about story line was that of Brady Quinn’s sister Laura dating A.J. Hawk (thanks a lot, Musberger).  Well, Brent and ABC Sports will be happy to know that A.J. and Laura finally tied the knot on March 17th, and have the pictures to prove it.  Especially check out the shot of the groomsmen.  It’s been awhile since a collection of mullets like that has formed anywhere in the U.S.

I’m sure sportscasters everywhere are salivating at the prospect of the first game between the Browns and Packers.  Ugh.

http://i.a.cnn.net/si/2006/writers/pete_mcentegart/01/03/ten.spot/p1_lauraquinn.jpg

Gekko is Back!

May 9, 2007

According to Techcrunch, there is going to be sequel to Wall Street.  Evidently Gordon has been released from jail and now working in the hedge fund industry.  Sweet!

The Dolphins are morons

May 7, 2007

I’m not even going to start talking about Brady Quinn’s fall in the draft last week, but I did want to post this video of Dolphin fans booing their new coach and chanting “Brady” at the draft party.  What an incredibly dumb move.

He’s excited about what the Ginn family can bring to the Dolphins?!  Are you kidding me?  I hate the Ginn family.

World History as it Really Happened

May 7, 2007

Ok, I was on vacation last week everyone, so sorry for the lack of posting.  To get back on the wagon, I decided to put this up.  It’s an email forwarded from one of my dad’s fraternity brothers.  Good stuff:

Humans originally existed as members of small bands of nomadic hunters/gatherers. They lived on deer in the mountains during the summer and would go to the coast and live on fish and lobster in the winter.

The two most important events in all history were the invention of beer and the invention of the wheel. The wheel was invented to get man to the beer. These were the foundation of modern civilization and together were the catalyst for the splitting of humanity into two distinct subgroups: Liberals and Conservatives.

Once beer was discovered, it required grain and that was the beginning of agriculture. Neither the glass bottle nor aluminum can were invented yet, so while our early human were sitting around waiting for them to be invented, they just stayed close to the brewery. That’s how villages were formed.

Some men spent their days tracking and killing animals to B-B-Q at night while they were drinking beer. This was the beginning of what is known as the Conservative movement.

Other men who were weaker and less skilled at hunting learned to live off the conservatives by showing up for the nightly B-B-Q’s and doing the sewing, fetching and hair dressing. This was the beginning of the Liberal movement. Some of these liberal men eventually evolved into women.  The rest became known as girliemen.

Some noteworthy liberal achievements include the domestication of cats, the invention of group therapy and group hugs and the concept of Democratic voting to decide how to divide the meat and beer that conservatives provided.

Over the years conservatives came to be symbolized by the largest, most powerful land animal on earth, the elephant. Liberals are symbolized by the jackass.

Modern liberals like imported beer (with lime added), but most prefer white wine or imported bottled water. They eat raw fish but like their beef well done.  Sushi, tofu, and French food are standard liberal fare.

Another interesting revolutionary side note: most of their women have higher testosterone levels than their men. Most social workers, personal injury attorneys, journalists, home interior designers, dreamers in Hollywood and group therapists are liberals. Liberals invented the designated hitter rule because it wasn’t fair to make the pitcher also bat.

Conservatives drink domestic beer. They eat red meat and still provide for their women. Conservatives are big-game hunters, rodeo cowboys, lumberjacks, construction workers, firemen, medical doctors, police officers, corporate executives, athletes, Marines, and generally anyone who works productively. Conservatives who own companies hire other conservatives who want to actually work for a living.

Liberals produce little or nothing. They like to govern the producers and decide what to do with the production. Liberals believe Europeans are more enlightened than Americans.   That is why most of the liberals remained in Europe when conservatives were coming to America . They crept in after the Wild West was tamed and created a business of trying to get MORE for nothing.

Here ends today’s lesson in world history: It should be noted that a Liberal may have a momentary urge to angrily respond to the above before forwarding it. A Conservative will simply laugh and be so convinced of the absolute truth of this history that it will be forwarded immediately to other true believers. And to more liberals just to piss them off.

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